Feeling This
by aesthetic
Summary: Pink. The color has been used to represent many different things. There’s pep, spunk, female, breast cancer awareness... and of course, love. So, did a pink strip foreshadow any of these adjective? SS, with potential RM.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: Hello everyone! I would like to say this is my first Fan Fiction, and to tell you the truth, it's a funny situation for me. I'm more of a reader than I am a writer, but I was inspired. I don't really know where the inspiration came from, but I received it none the less. Btw, any type of reviews, I welcome. I can handle criticism. Also, before I forget, this is indeed a "Summer gets pregnant and runs away" story. Her reasons, however, are more — what's the word — rational? Yes, rational. She has a good excuse for leaving. Anyway, hope you like it.

**Summary**: Pink. The color has been used to represent many different things. There's pep, spunk, female, breast cancer awareness… and of course, love. So, did a pink strip foreshadow any of these adjective? "Seth had taken a chance, and much to his delight, the response was electric." SS, with potential RM.

**A/N**: Gosh. I'm sorry. I keep interrupting. But before you start reading this, there are some things that never happened: Caleb Nichol never died and Trey was never released from jail. He still had a few years to go.

* * *

**Summer 2005**

_"Mm…" _

_Summer Roberts purred in a satisfactory manner into Seth Cohen's bare chest. She was lying on top of him, sweaty, and breathing hard. _

_"Yeah," Seth agreed to the unspoken comment. He was out of breath just as much as the girl beside him, on him, wherever. "That was…" _

_"Perfect," Summer whispered in a husky voice. _

_Things were slowing down, heartbeats were beginning to pace. She felt her pulse. _

_After a moment of complete pleasurable silence, she began to slowly tease him with a soft trail of kisses. Her giggle was muffled, but it vibrated his whole body, sending jolts of thunder through his skin. _

_"Hey," Seth said quietly. _

_Summer looked up at him. _

_"You're beautiful." _

_Summer smiled and slowly rubbed her body against his as she slid up towards his face. She played with his fingers. _

_"'Course," she replied in an obvious tone, but there was a twinkle in her eye that said it was more special when he said it. _

_Seth intertwined their fingers together and brought their hands up towards his lips. _

_"I love you," he murmured against their skin. "I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you." _

_He repeated it over and over again, in the silence of their young romance. Skin touched skin, lips collided with lips, but things were soft, slow, and calm; the perfect lazy day. _

_Don't forget the calm before a storm. _

_I love you, I love you, I love you. _

* * *

**Autumn 2017**

"Michael ann! Get your butt down here! Now! You're late for school!" yelled a now twenty-eight year old summer roberts.

"I'm coming, mom! Hold on one second!" a twelve year old Michael Ann hollered down stairs.

"I have been waiting! It's been 20 minutes now! What the hell are you doing?!" Summer yelled back.

"Jeeze mom, no need for such vulgar language. I said to hold on a second, I'm done now," Michael Ann replied skipping down the stairs in a short mini skirt and spaghetti strap tank top — along with a bunch of make up. Definitely way too much for a 7th grader.

"Oh My God. You are not wearing that to school! You go back upstairs and wear something a lot more appropriate," demanded Summer after seeing her daughter's outfit.

"What?! No! Mom! Everyone is wearing this! Or at least something close to this. Actually, their clothes show even more than I do. Yes, this outfit is appropriate compared to the other girl's clothes," Michael Ann complained.

"I don't care. You are not leaving this house with those clothes on! And if you stay home from school, you will be grounded," stated Summer, having that 'don't argue with me' tone in her voice.

Michael Ann rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically.

"Won't even let me dress myself..." she muttered under her breath as she retreated upstairs to change her clothes.

After putting on some faded jeans and a nice fitted tee, Michael Ann stepped back from her mirror and examined at herself. She had long brown hair, just like her mother. Except, her hair had some natural curls that bounced whenever shegot excited about something. She never did figure out where her waves came from. But like her mother, she had the same brown eyes and the same curvy lips. She was pretty tall for her age — something she obviously didn't inherit from Summer. Maybe her dad. And as for puberty, she was ahead of most girls in her class. She was 'pre-teen model' beautiful. It a cute way. She looked just like her mother — an identical, most people would say — and Michael Ann prided herself in that.

Satisfied with how she looked and a little adjustments here and there, Michael Ann trudged downstairs and flew passed her mother towards the door.

She turned around to Summer and rolled her eyes. "I'm ready!" She said in a clearly annoyed voice.

"It's about time!" Summer replied, grabbing her keys and walking out the door, following Michael Ann.

* * *

"Okay now, be good and don't get into any trouble. I'll be here to pick you up at three, okay?" Summer asked as she stopped the white BMW by the school's official visitors curb. 

"Yeah. Okay, mom. See you later!" Michael Ann kissed Summer's cheek and opened the car door, sitting there as she searched for a familiar face. Finding one, she waved them over and rushed off to meet them. As she did, Michael Ann looked back towards her mother and gave her a nod.

Summer sighed and watched her daughter run off into the school.

She may have gotten Summer's looks, but she definitely got Cohen's personality. "Cohen," Summer whispered to herself. Just thinking of him made her heart skip a beat. It had been a long time since she saw him — twelve years ago to be exact. She left him when she was seventeen — under horrible circumstances — and hated herself for it. But she knew it was the right thing to do. The worst part was, Seth didn't even know he had a daughter, and that thought killed Summer emotionally.

* * *

"Ohmigosh! Mike! Guess what!" Michael Ann's excited best friend, Natalie, screamed into her face. "Remember how Mr. Vernando got fired last week for sexual harassment?" she asked. She and Michael Ann were both at their lockers, talking about their ex-English teacher, Mr. Vernando. 

"Yeah..." replied a distracted Michael Ann, who was looking for something in her locker. "What about it?"

"Well, ohmigosh! Okay. So, like, they got this new English teacher, and, OH MY GOSH! Mike! He is so totally hot! And so totally young! He's like, twenty-eight!" Natalie yelled, making Michael Ann wince.

Finally finding what she was looking for, Michael Ann turned to her friend and gave her a funny look. "Oh my ew!" she exclaimed. "He's a teacher! That's disgusting!" Michael Ann replied, slightly amused at her best friend.

Natalie scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Oh well. I can't help it! And his smile? Ohmigosh. It's so adorable!"

Staring down at her shoes, Michael Ann could sense Natalie was feeling a little crush coming on. She laughed. "Yeah?" she said, "Well, I'll have to see him for myself. I have English next period, anyway. What's his name again?" she asked.

"His name? I don't think I've told you. I don't really know myself." Natalie replied, opening her notebook to see her English notes.

Michael Ann shot her a look before glancing at Natalie's notebook. Figures. It was pink and had hearts all over it. Hearts and, wait, what was that? Mr —

"NO! I mean, It's Mr. Cohen, I think — or something like that. I forget. But only because he told us to call him Seth! Ohmigosh, Mike! How cool is that! He lets us use his first name! Seriously, I think I'm in love!" Natalie gushed. She ripped out a clean sheet of paper and handed it over to Michael Ann.

'Hmm. Cohen. Now where have I heard that before?' Michael Ann asked herself as she accepted the paper from Natalie.

The school bell chimed and rang in an annoying tune that droned on and on. This signaled the girls to quickly rush off to class.

"Bye, Nat!" Michael Ann yelled to Natalie. "I'll tell you what I think of Mr. Cohen at lunch, kay?" she hollered.

"'Course! See you then!" Natalie yelled back over her shoulder. "OH!" she said in sudden realization. It caused Michael Ann to turn around. "Don't forget to write me!" she said, referring to the paper she gave to Michael Ann.

Michael Ann winked, confirming she would and walked away to her destination.

Though she didn't want to admit it, she was interested and excited to meet 'Mr. Hot Stuff.' When she reached the door to her English classroom, she paused at the doorknob and read the neatly printed words above. "Cohen" she read out loud. "Why do I know that name?" she asked to herself again. Having no more time, she shrugged her shoulders and turned the doorknob. Excited to see what she was to meet as she entered the classroom.

**

* * *

**

**A/N**: okay, I talk a lot. I can't help it. So anyway, what do you guys think? I'll have the next chapter up soon, I can assure you of that. Here are some quick facts, though:

1. The flashback was when Summer got pregnant. I had to say it —just incase.

2. Seth is a talker. A big talker. He also loves comic books. What does he do? He becomes an English teacher —sharing his passion for literature (and brains, maybe). He's not a regular English teacher, though. He is a really good and successful one. He usually teaches at prestigious schools and is sought after a lot. Apparently, the kids love him and learn a whole lot from him. He got offered a lot of money to work in a rich private school in Colorado —so that's what he did — packed his things and took off for he ends up in Michael Ann's school. I just thought it fitted him well.

**okay, done with facts.**

Next time:

Seth and Michael Ann meet, gasp!

Seth and Summer meet again; angry, bigger gasp!

Seth learns the truth to why Summer left him when he was seventeen years old.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: I would like to thank everyone for the awesome reviews! It inspires me to update often, really! A special thanks to _The O.C. Addict_ for being the first! I'm extremely pleased. Especially since this is my first fan fiction. To _hanselel_: yeah, I know. I was thinking of that, too, but it didn't really fit in anywhere particular. I promise when I need to describe something about someone's life, I'll put it in the story next time. Thank you for tip! And the name, Michael Ann, I think it's cool to combine a girls name and a guys name together. I like the sound of it. OH! And there will definitely be some R/M. But not right away. Things happen. Anyway, as I promised, the next chapter.

_"__Cohen,__"__ she read out loud, "why do I know that name?" _

_Knowing the final bell would ring real soon, she shrugged her shoulders and turned the doorknob, excited to see what she was to meet as she entered the classroom._

Michael Ann took a seat in the third row of desks — nearest to the door. A man who Michael Ann assumed was Mr. Cohen had his backed turned to her. He was talking to a boy, Nathan Hutch, and seemed to be gesturing wildly. Michael Ann studied Mr. Cohen a bit. He had that crazy, out-of-bed type of hair. Something that Michael Ann personally thought looked great on him. He was tall, but not too tall; and definitely toned, but not really muscular. He was, as Michael Ann could only put it, good-looking. Handsome, even. But she didn't see it. She didn't see what Natalie saw. She didn't see 'hotness', and she certainly didn't understand why the girls around her were giggling and staring at him like he was some type of super hero. As if reading her mind, Mr. Cohen turned his head towards the giggling girls and raised an eyebrow. His eyes traveled back to Nathan before he quickly turned around again and stared at Michael Ann with an intense gaze. Their eyes locked. He seemed shocked and somewhat baffled. Before he could do anything, a tap on the shoulder from Nathan caused him to break his concentration and continue on with what he was saying earlier.

"That was creepy…" Michael Ann thought to herself. "He better not get any ideas," she said, thinking of her now Ex-English teacher, Mr. Vernando. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the final bell and the sudden silence of the class.

Mr. Cohen walked up to his desk and turned to face his new fourth period class. He eyed each student carefully. It may have been Michael Ann, but she swore his stare lingered on her a little longer than the others.

He cleared his throat and let out an easy smile.

"Hello class," he began, "As you have all heard, Mr. Vernando was fired. That making me your new English teacher. Hi, nice to meet you. Yes, I am Mr. Cohen."

He held out a hand towards his audience.

"But please, I beg all of you," he beseeched, "call me Seth. Just Seth. Not Seth Cohen. Not Mr. Seth. But Seth. Regular and plain Seth. Got that? Mr. Cohen makes me sound so old," he explained, talking a little faster than the average person. Somehow, though, every student understood his introduction. Maybe it was a youth thing.

Pleased with the students reaction, Seth continued. "I suck at these types of things. You know, trying to entertain you." he laughed. "Okay. Okay. I just lied. I talk. A lot. Ramble really. And I could go on forever and ever and ever and ever and," he paused. "you get the point. Entertaining is my specialty. And I will be honest, too, just because I like all of you — and no, not in that way — but as friends. Because really, we're all friends here, right?" he asked, looking around the classroom to see some kids nod their heads.

"Wow," Michael Ann muttered under her breath, "He really does ramble," she thought.

"Right. So anyway. I am self-centered," he announced. "I think about myself 24/7. Day in, day out. Constantly. No joke. Actually, all I can think of right now is that I hope I don't sound like a jerk. I'm not stuck up or anything, I just like myself. A lot. So yes, one would be able to call me narcissistic. I wouldn't mind," the words rolled off his tongue so naturally, Michael Ann was sure Seth was used to talking about himself. It seemed so, too.

"I'd take it as a compliment," he continued, letting out a small chuckle. "And I hope you all like me as much as I like myself. Because really, it just makes things easier, don't you think?" He didn't stop for an answer. "I will begin to give you some more information on me."

The class laughed, and Michael Ann found herself laughing with them. This little fact surprised her. Yes, the class usually laughed when a teacher cracked a joke, except it didn't sound like this. It usually sounded rehearsed, in a boring monotone rhythm. But this time, it sounded genuine. Real and colorful. All disturbance left Michael Ann's head as she watched her new English teacher intently.

Seth took in a deep breath before beginning. "Let's see," he said, "I have been an English teacher for about… what? Five years now? Yes," he confirmed, "five years. Actually, I used to be an English teacher at Yale University. It's no lie. It was one of those rare chances aspiring teachers received and I took advantage of that. However, the kids I had to 'teach' were my age. I didn't exactly receive the respect I wanted. After a couple of months of pure torture," some kids laughed, "I decided to leave because I didn't want to put up with that bull-" Seth stopped himself before he said the actual words.

Yet, the class couldn't help but gasp at the fact he almost said a swear word. Michael Ann hid a smile.

Seth coughed and shifted his eyes.

Michael Ann swore she saw him wink.

"Sorry about that," Seth said, letting out an uneasy laugh. "Got carried away…" he said. He concentrated on the floor, trying to remember what he was talking about.

Wait for it. Wait, wait…

Seth lifted his head brightly.

There it was.

"So!" he continued, "after leaving that dump, I did some teaching in other schools around the country. Obviously, I left those schools to be here, with all of you. You should all be thankful and grateful that I'm doing this." he joked, shooting a smile towards the back of class.

Michael Ann heard someone 'swoon'.

"Anyway, I'm afraid if I continue, I won't stop talking. And trust me, it has happened before. So! I guess I'll end in questions? Okay. Questions. Any questions?" he asked around, glancing at the boys in the corner.

A bunch of hands shot up in the air. Most of them girls, Michael Ann noted.

"You. There. In the green shirt. Question?" Seth asked as he pointed to a girl in an unbelievably lime green tank top.

The girl blushed and lowered her head a little. "Er, yes. Seth," she giggled nervously, emphasizing his name, "um, like, do you have a girlfriend?" she asked, "Or, like, a woman in your life?" Her hazel eyes held a gleam of hope.

Michael Ann turned her head and stared wildly at the girl. What a blunt question.

Seth turned a little red, but didn't falter. "Well, that is kind of personal. But if you must know, then no. There is no girl," he stated. "Not that I can't get any," he continued, "I mean, of course I can get a girl. Right boys?" Seth asked, motioning to the group of guys by the window.

The class laughed again, and the boys agreed. Maybe because they thought of Seth as one of them. Maybe because they were kissing ass. Whatever it was, Seth's whole 'girl' comment was really cliché. Something that would have made Michael Ann mark him as 'lame'. But she noticed. She noticed herself being pulled into Seth's 'charm' — Regardless of her own beliefs.

She was impressed, too. It was rare for her to feel that way towards a teacher. To look up to them. Worship them. Perhaps when she was younger, but not anymore. Living where she lived, the teachers weren't the nicest people around.

Being lost in her own thoughts, Michael Ann didn't hear another student get called on.

"How old are you, sir?" a girl, who was clad in an unbelievably short skirt, asked.

Seth grimaced and closed his eyes for a second. "Disgusting. And how old are you?" he muttered.

Michael Ann caught his words and instantly smirked. Glad someone agreed with her. 'My skirt wasn't that short…' she thought, referring to the scene that had happened earlier today.

"Wow. Lot's of personal questions today, huh?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the desk in front of him. He didn't want to look at a twelve year old's skin. Even if it was unintentional, it still made him feel dirty. Not to mention make him want to grab her and take her to the nearest department store where he would buy her a whole new wardrobe. It'd cost him a fortune. He must resist. "I recently turned 28," he answered, "wow. I _am_ getting old. But hey! At least I'm not thirty." he reasoned with a smile. His dimples surfaced and the girls all shrieked in excitement. One of them probably fell into a coma.

Michael Ann rolled her eyes and looked down at the blank sheet of paper on her desk. 'Natalie.' she remember. She bent down and began digging through her backpack, searching for a writing utensil.

Noticing the sudden movement through the corner of his eye, Seth turned his head to the right and stared at the sight he had been trying to avoid since the beginning of class.

Michael Ann pulled out a pen and began writing. She felt someone's gaze on her and looked up to meet two brown eyes staring back at her.

Not again.

'I've got to know.' Seth finally said in his head and clapped his hands together, gathering everyone's attention once again. "Okay. Enough questions." he glanced at the clock, "It seems we're running out of time and there's something I planned, so we must begin now." the majority of the class groaned.

Seth smiled and rolled his eyes good-heartedly. "Don't worry." he said, "It's not going to be some boring class assignment. It's really simple. We are going to go through an introduction thing. You will stand up, give me your name, and give me two interesting facts about you. And yes, they have to be interesting. Because, to be frank, I really don't want to know anything boring about you. That would just make me like you less." Seth said playfully, shooting everyone a grin. One that seemed to have caused the girls behind Michael Ann to erupt into giggles.

Michael Ann refrained from rolling her eyes, but made gagging noises.

Seth caught this and shook his head with a little smile. "Okay," he said, he looked over at the boy who was first in the row of seats, "starting with you. In the front. What's your name?"

The boy was wearing a black polo shirt and khaki slacks. He lazily stood up and replied, "My name is Jeremy Boles."

Seth continued to stare at him, expecting more.

Jeremy let out an exaggerated sigh as if this was the most pointless thing in the world. "I'm in a band," he said, "and, uh, I like music." he finished.

Seth raised an eyebrow, but replied anyway, feigning interest. "Interesting. You like music?" he said. Michael Ann heard sarcasm in his voice. She hid a smile. "What kind?"

"Rock. Indie. Alternative. Mostly punk rock." Jeremy replied, indifference in his voice.

Seth nodded his head, looking a little impressed, but Michael Ann was sure he was mocking him. "Oh really? Punk rock? I like that, too. Actually, I'm more of an indie fan, myself. But later, maybe we can talk bands?" he suggested, making polite conversation.

Jeremy's careless expression didn't change. "Awesome." he droned out.

Seth just smiled and turned to the next kid beside him. "Anyway," he said, "You. What's your story?"

Things continued in that direction, student after student, until Seth's eyes fell onto the girl sitting in the corner, next to the door. The person he wanted to know the most about. Michael Ann.

Seeing as he was fixating on her, Michael Ann realized it was her turn. She was so busy staring at him, she didn't think of herself. Feeling a little foolish, Michael Ann turned a bright red, but shook it away. She slowly stood up and cleared her throat. She ignored Seth's penetrating stare. "Uh, Hello." she began, her voice coming out a little more hoarse than she wanted it to. "My name is,"

Seth leaned forward more, making sure he didn't miss a word.

"Michael Ann Roberts," she said. She noticed Seth's eyes grow into tennis balls. She swore she thought they were going to spontaneously pop out any second and hit all the girls in the back in the face. Like a game of ping pong. If only.

"Uh," she continued, "there's nothing interesting about me. Not really, anyway. I don't really like talking about myself. I tend to fixate on other people." she said. "So, I'm sorry to disappoint you. I mean, okay. I talk a lot too. I'm not going to lie. But that's not interesting. And I —" she stuttered, "I, for once, am at lost with words." she turned her head with a confused expression. "Which is weird because my mom would tell me over and over again that I talk a lot. Like, a lot, a lot. Something she says isn't a compliment." she laughed nervously. "I, uh, guess I'm boring, huh? So you must like me less." she said, referring to Seth's little joke about disliking boring people.

God, she was nervous. The fact he was looking at her so strangely wasn't helping, either. She did want to make a good impression, after all.

Seth smiled at her effort at a joke, it was funny, he admitted. He cleared his throat and tried to think of something to say. He couldn't. '_Roberts_' echoed through his head like in the movies. You know, when you screamed something, it would just keep saying the same thing over and over again. Gradually changing from loud to soft. 'Roberts… Roberts… Roberts'. He laughed out loud at his inner monologue.

"Sir?" Michael Ann asked, sounding a little unsure.

Seth look up, realizing there was a class full of students staring at him. "Oh yeah!" he said, cursing himself, "uhhhh… if you can't think of anything interesting about yourself… why don't you talk about something else?" he suggested, liking his plan. He was brilliant, after all. "Like, say, your hobbies? Likes? Dislikes? Family, perhaps…?" he trailed off, trying hard not to sound obvious.

Michael Ann didn't notice. "Uh, okay." she replied. "I guess I'll talk about my interests? I," she looked down, looking a little embarrassed, "well, I love reading. It's one of my favorite things in the whole world. At home, I have like, a million books. It's my dream to own my own library. I know it sounds geeky or whatever, but it's something I've always wanted. Especially growing up like I did, I didn't have much back then. So it's something I've stuck to since I was little. Ever since my mother read me _The Adventures of Spiderman_, I couldn't stop reading." she looked back up to meet Seth's gaze. Was he judging her?

He smiled. Spiderman. Was it the Roberts he knew? He didn't want to assume. And would Summer really read a comic book to her child? He made a mental note to tease her about that next time he saw her.

Look at that. He was already planning to see her. He didn't even know if it _was_ Summer. "Go on." Seth urged. "You love reading… what kind?"

Feeling a little better at his encouragement, she did. "Yes. Uh, well, actually, at this moment, I'm in love with classic books. You know, the ones written way back in the day when the women wore dresses as outside clothes and men wore really tight stockings." she smiled a little. "There was this phase when I was really into mysteries. I'll admit right now, I own the whole collection of Nancy Drew novels. It was an unhealthy addiction, yes, but I assure you, that's over and done with." she gave him a shy smile, not really sure of what to do. It seemed everyone was paying attention to her. "So anyway, yes. I'd have to say Classics are my favorite right now. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, specifically. But only because it was my mother's favorite and I could totally relate. We both had the same opinions." she said.

Seth's eyes, again, widened. Madame Bovary? But that's… "Really?" he asked, intrigued. "That's great. I love a reader." he said. "I enjoyed Madame Bovary, too. Actually, that book has done many wonders." he said matter-of-factly. "It was picked up one day, in a hospital, and read by a girl I never expected knew how read. Of course, I was proved wrong, and well, it just made me like her more." He sent her a smile, showing it was just a joke.

The girls in the back fumed. Michael Ann suspected they noticed Seth's attention was all on her. She smiled. Yes, she was a sick girl.

"And your mother?" he said, trying not to pry. Hint, hint. "You seemed to talk a lot about her."

Michael Ann returned the smile proudly. "Yes, I love my mom a lot. Well, you see, I don't really have a family." she said. "I live with my mother only, and I've never met my father."

Seth's mouth dropped a little.

"My mom is a clothes designer—"

"AND A HOTTIE!" one of the boys, Nathan, yelled out. His friends around him laughed and some gave him high fives. The girls in the back all laughed. Seth smiled a little, but motioned Michael Ann to continue.

Ignoring the outburst, she did. "As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted," she shot Nathan her meanest glare, "my mom is a clothes designer. A successful one, I might add. And we've been living here, in Colorado, since I can remember. That's pretty much it, to tell you the truth." Michael Ann finished.

Seth nodded his. "Well, that's fine. I didn't really need to know that much…"

Michael Ann sent him a 'then why'd you urge me to continue?!' look.

"But! I'm glad you shared." he said, saving himself. "So uh, your mother, what's her name?"

Michael Ann raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

Seth caught on to her expression and replied quickly, "I just want to know if I've seen her stuff before. That's all. One of my best friends is in design, too. So I see a lot of fashion and what not. I'm just curious." he repeated, hoping she'd believe him.

She did. "Oh! Well, her name is,"

Seth braced himself.

"Summer. Summer Roberts." Michael Ann let out.

Seth's mouth dropped. For real this time. Summer Roberts — _his_ Summer Roberts — had a child. A child! Who was… let's see, seventh grade… she'd have to be, what, twelve? Yes, twelve. But wait a minute, twelve... "I was with her twelve years ago." Seth whispered to himself. It couldn't be his. Why would she leave, then? That means… that means, she, she cheated?

"Sir?" Michael Ann asked, interrupting Seth's thoughts.

Seth looked up, confused. "Huh?" he asked. "Oh! Yeah! Sorry, no. Um, I've never seen her stuff, no. But, uh, I will definitely look into it. Yes. Erm, You may sit down now. Sorry I didn't tell you to earlier." he let out a nervous laugh. "So, uh, apparently," Seth looked to the boys, "Your mother is a 'hottie'?" he asked, trying to direct the attention elsewhere.

The boys took the bait and snickered. One of them whistled like the wolf in the movies. And another yelled out, "TOTAL BABE!"

Michael Ann jerked her head to the side and sent all the boys a death glare. "Shut up! That would be my mother you're talking about." she snapped. "How would you like it if I started calling your dad a 'hottie'? Please! That's just disgusting!"

Nathan scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Hey listen," he began, "don't get all jealous on your mom because guys like _her_ more than they like _you_. That's so not cool." he stated arrogantly.

Michael Ann huffed. "Like you would know what 'cool' is." she retorted.

Jeremy, usually staying out of things school and student related because he was 'holier than thou', joined in. "She makes an excellent point." he said.

Nathan looked at Jeremy sharply. "Is that a challenge?" he shot back.

"Maybe it is." Jeremy replied coolly.

"HEY—" Nathan began but was quickly interrupted by Seth, the peacemaker.

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Students!" he said briskly, "Calm down! Or, well, not _students_. Friends! Yes. Friends! Calm down. It's not a big deal. Boys," he looked at Nathan and his little 'group', "please, stay with girls your own age. You're starting to sound like a man I once knew named Luke." he stated, grimacing at the thought.

"Who?" the class asked together, forgetting the whole 'almost fight'.

Seth looked at everyone. "Wha—? Oh! Never mind. Just a guy. Not important. Anyway! Back to the point. Introductions, right..."

And so it continued. Each student stood up and said a few words to the teacher, getting to know each other better. Unknown to them, though, was that Seth wasn't paying attention. He kept thinking about his conclusion and Michael Ann. Summer's daughter. Yes, his thoughts were clouded with Summer Roberts, the girl who stole his heart many years ago and never gave it back.

* * *

"…and I also—" the girl in yellow began, but was cut off by the loud bell, signaling that class was over and time for lunch.

Almost all the kids jumped up to leave but Seth stopped them. "Uh, okay. Okay." he panicked. "We'll finish the introductions and stuff tomorrow, okay?" he asked quickly. "And don't forget to bring a pencil tomorrow. You're going to need it."

The students looked at him impatiently.

Seth's eyes lit up. "OH! Class dismissed." he said.

The students began filing out, rushing to get to lunch. Nathan stopped in front of Michael Ann and smirked. "You're lucky your boyfriend was there to take your side." he spat out. And wanting the last word, he briskly walked out of the classroom without looking back. He was so cool.

Michael Ann just rolled her eyes and began putting her supplies away. She picked up the note for Natalie and folded it roughly, wanting to hurry and get to lunch.

"Michael Ann?" Seth asked from his desk.

Michael Ann looked up from her note. "Yes, sir?" she replied cautiously.

"Could you come up here for a second? I promise it won't take that long."

"Um," she looked down at her note and back up to Seth, "Sure." she said. She stuffed the note in her backpack and pulled the straps on. She reluctantly walked up to Mr. Cohen's desk.

"Yes?" she asked patiently. She noticed Natalie waiting for her at the door.

"I was wondering," he said. "Could you meet me after school today?"

Michael Ann eyed him weirdly, unsure of what to say. "Uh, I'm sorry. I can't. You see, my mom has to pick me up, like, _right_ after school. AND! Today is Monday! So I have soccer practice." she explained. "She has to take me to the field by three-thirty. So, it's kind of rush. And I don't like to waste any time."

Okay, so she lied. But it was just little white lie. She didn't really want to be stuck with her teacher after school. Especially one that keeps on staring at her. Michael Ann _did_ play soccer, but she has to be at the field at four-thirty. Usually, her and her mother would go out for ice cream or do a little shopping and what-not.

Seth nodded his head, showing he understood. "Oh… okay." he said, sounding disappointed. "I see… but um, it's just that, I really need to discuss something with you…" he trailed off.

Michael Ann bit her lip. "Oh, well…"

"I know!" he said suddenly, "How about I walk you down to your, uh," he paused, "mothers. I wouldn't mind meeting her." he said.

Michael Ann opened her mouth to object but changed her mind. She knew he was going to stop asking until she said yes. She sighed in defeat. "Um, okay. That's fine. I'll be back here after school."

Seth smiled gratefully. "Alright! Thanks!" he said. "Guess you better run off to lunch. Do you need a note?" he asked.

Michael Ann gave him a tight-lipped smile and said no. She turned around and immediately walked out of the room, meeting up with Natalie who pranced on her for questions.

"What was all that about?!" Natalie asked. The hallway was still full of people, chattering away.

"Nothing." Michael Ann replied, feeling a bit weird.

"MOVE IT." the hallway monitors yelled. "GET TO CLASS. LUNCH. HURRY."

Seth stared at the spot that was recently occupied by Michael Ann. He couldn't believe how much she looked like Summer. Not only that, but he would be seeing Summer. Again. After twelve really, _really_, long years.

* * *

Michael Ann and Natalie squeezed out of the front doors of the school once the final bell rang.

"Oh, crap!" Michael Ann exclaimed, forgetting about her new English teacher.

"What's wrong?" Natalie asked, digging through her backpack.

"I've got to go back to English class. See Seth." she complained.

Natalie rolled her eyes and smiled. "I don't see why you're whining." she said. "He's so hot! You should feel lucky!"

Michael Ann laughed and hit Natalie's shoulder playfully. "Remember what I said earlier: I don't think he's hot. But he's pretty cool. I just, I, for some reason, don't want him to meet my mom. And I didn't want to be stuck with a teacher. But oh well." she shrugged it off.

Natalie smiled and saw a lady standing a couple yards away, waving. She waved back. "There's my mom." Natalie said to Michael Ann. "Gotta go!" she turned around and took off towards the lady.

Michael Ann followed suit and began running, heading towards the opposite direction, back into the building. "I'll see you tomorrow!" she yelled over her shoulder. "Call me tonight, 'kay?"

"Sure thing, Mike!" Natalie yelled back.

Michael Ann slowed down to a walk once she reached the English hallway and started for Seth's room. Before she could knock on his door, Seth appeared.

"Hi, sir—" she started.

"Seth." he cut in. He was pulling on his jacket.

"Seth." Michael Ann repeated. "You ready? My mom is out there waiting. I, uh, I saw her car." she stated firmly, feeling a little awkward.

"Yeah. Sure I am. I mean, there's nothing for me to get ready for… So yeah. Yeah! Uh, let's go?" Seth suggested as he motioned towards the exit. They both began walking together in an uncomfortable silence.

"That's my mom's car right there." Michael Ann pointed out to a white BMW once they were outside.

"Oh." came Seth's reply. The two continued on walking down the path until they reached the mentioned car. Seth stayed back a couple of steps as Michael Ann walked up to the passenger seat. He could see Summer perfectly.

"Hey sweetie!" Summer exclaimed after seeing her daughter. "How was your day at school, today?" she asked. She did not notice the legs beside Michael Ann.

'She sounds the same,' thought Seth, 'and she's still beautiful.' He couldn't help but smile. It was Summer. But as quickly as his smile came, it vanished. He remembered instantly of his earlier thoughts. Did she cheat?

"Oh, it was fine. The usual, you know?" Michael Ann said, bringing Seth back to earth. "Yeah. Anyway. Mom, remember how last week my English teacher, Mr. Vernando, got fired?" she asked her mother.

Summer's brow knitted together in confusion. "...yeah?"

"Well, we got this _new_ English teacher. Today and…"

"Oh yeah?" Summer asked, sounding genuinely interested. "That's cool. How is he?"

"Pretty cool." Michael Ann replied offhandedly. "But I mean, like I was saying—" she was cut off by Seth.

He bent his knees to see clearly into the passenger seat and smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. It was a cold one. His eyes held nothing. No emotion. He had blocked everything off. "Hi. Miss Roberts? I'm Seth Cohen. Your daughter's new English teacher."

Summer just stared at him wide-eyed. Speechless. Her hands dropped from the wheel.

Michael Ann noticed the strange exchange and looked from Seth back to her mom. "Uh, mom?" she asked carefully. "You gonna say something?"

Summer just sat there, sticking to silence. It was like she had just seen a ghost.

"Hellooo?" Michael Ann stretched out. "Anyone there?" she asked, slightly annoyed and impatient.

Summer jerked her head towards Michael Ann, finally pulled out of her muse. She noticed her expression. "Huh? What? Oh uh, yeah. Mr. Cohen," she turned her attention to the man standing next to Michael Ann and cleared her throat. "it's nice to meet you." She stuck out her hand. What the hell was going on?

Seth hesitated before accepting Summer's hand. He shook it firmly, never breaking eye contact.

When the two hands pulled away, Michael Ann become nervous. Do they know each other already? "So, uh, anyways…You two have met." she confirmed, "Mom?" she looked at her mother, "can we go now?"

At the sound of her daughter's voice, Summer took her eyes off Seth and shook her thoughts away. "Um. Yeah." she said, her voice sounding unsure, "Yeah. Uh, come on. Get in the car. Mr. Cohen," she looked back at Seth, "it was a pleasure mee—"

"MIKE! MIKE!"

Michael Ann, Summer, and Seth all turned around to find an excited Natalie running towards them.

"Mike!" she called out again, flailing her hands in the air.

Seth and Summer exchanged looks.

Michael Ann turned a little red. "Hey Nat. What's up?" she said to her best friend, amusement was clear in her voice. "I thought you were gonna call me tonight?"

Natalie was breathing hard, huffing and puffing. "Oh!" she let out, still out of breath. "Um.." she started, she glanced at Summer and Seth. Looking at her teacher, she blushed. "Yeah. No. I'll still call. It's just, my mom wanted to know if you wanted to go out for ice cream with us or whatever. You know, like, before soccer practice?" she asked, giving Summer a smile and a little wave. She turned back to Michael Ann. "Mom said we have to leave soon. There's that sale over that… you know," she grimaced, "old people store."

Michael Ann laughed. It was an inside joke. "Oh. Okay. I'd love to." Michael Ann looked over at her mom. "Mom? Is that okay?" she asked, sounding hopeful.

Summer nodded her head and moved her hands onto the steering wheel. She needed to squeeze something. "Yeah. Of course, honey. Go ahead. That's fine."

Michael Ann grinned and Natalie squealed. "Okay! Thanks! Can you pick—" Michael Ann realized something. Her face turned guilty. "Oh jeeze, mom. I'm sorry."

Summer looked bemused. "Huh? For what?" she asked. She noticed Seth slowly backing away from the corner of her eye.

"I'm sorry for having to make you drive all the way out here and leave empty handed..." Michael Ann trailed off, looking down at her shoes.

Summer smiled and let out a hearty laugh. "No. Don't be silly. It's okay."

Michael Ann gave her a pointed look.

"_Really_." Summer persuaded, "I'm fine. Have fun, alright?"

"Umm…" Michael Ann looked at her teacher who was a few feet away, then back at her mom.

Seth noticed this. "Oh. Well, yeah." he said, taking a couple steps forward. He turned in Summer's direction. "Like you said, it was a pleasure meeting you. Really." he looked down and began shuffling his feet. "I'll, uh, I'll just go back to my class. Paper work and stuff…" he explained. He looked up at Michael Ann. "Sorry for just barging in here. But, uh, I still need to discuss something with you. So… is tomorrow alright?"

Michael Ann nodded her head and let out a whistle. "Okay," she said, "Me and Nat need to get going. Thanks again mom. I'll see you guys later. Bye!" Michael Ann waved and began to walk away with a now giggling Natalie. She whispered something in Michael Ann's ear. Michael Ann smiled and turned back around. "Bye Seth!" she yelled across the campus.

Seth simpered and waved back. "Bye Michael Ann!" he yelled back. He looked over at Summer one last time, satisfied at her reaction, and turned around to head back into the school.

Summer watched Seth walk into the building, he never looked back. She sighed very loudly and rested her head down onto the steering wheel. "This is going to be a very long day." she muttered.

* * *

Summer parked her white car into the deserted school parking lot. She opened her door and stood up onto the pavement. She straightened out her blouse and skirt, flipped her hair, and slowly crossed the campus and walked up into the school.

She stopped by the main office, her heels clicking against the slippery hallway. "Hello Patty," she said with a smile. "I was wondering—"

"Ah! Miss Roberts! Good for you stop by." Mr. Rumpus popped his head out of his office. "Can I, ah, help you with anything?" the balding man asked.

"Oh… Um. Well… I'm sure Patty can help me out." Summer replied, pointing towards Patty and returning his smile. Only, it seemed fake. "Thank you, though." she said. She looked back at Patty. "I would like to know where the English class room for Mr. Cohen is." she sounded eager. "Think you can give me a hand?"

"Oh! The new English teacher?" Patty asked, a blush was surfacing. "Such a doll. Quite the charmer." she said with a sly grin. "He's down the hall and to your right. Room eight."

"Thanks Patty." Summer said with a grateful smile. "See you around for the annual picnic."

Patty winked and nodded her head. "Sure thing, sugar. Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Summer gave her another smile and began walking out of the office.

"Don't forget the breadsticks this time." Patty called out.

Summer raised her arm to show she heard. "Promise." she yelled back.

"What does he have that I don't have?" muttered the principle after watching Summer's back. He stalked back into his office.

Patty reached over her desk and pulled out a file, shaking her head. "Hair." she replied.

* * *

The door was already open, so Summer peeked in. She saw Seth's legs resting on his desk, concentrating on a file in his hands. She noticed he was muttering about something, looking confused. Summer hid a smile and knocked on the door.

Seth looked up from his smile and his automatic response was to fall back in his chair from shock. He figured she would have ran away and hid. He quickly regained his balance and pushed himself up, using the desk for support. "Uh. Um. Hi Summer…" he stuttered, looking extremely embarrassed.

Summer stifled a laugh. Same ol' Cohen. "Hey Cohen." Summer replied shyly. She bit down on her bottom lip and stayed in place. She wasn't sure if she should walk in without his permission or not.

Seth smiled at the nickname. No one calls him "Cohen" anymore. Maybe Mr. Cohen, but, you get the point. He suddenly realized he was smiling and stopped. 'Stay in control, man.' he thought to himself. He shook away all his thoughts and walked away from his desk to the front. "Miss Roberts." Seth said stiffly, starting over. He looked away, trying to act indifferent to the whole situation. Especially about him falling.

Summer raised an eyebrow at his sudden change and decided she was going to walk in. She turned around and shut the door quietly. When she turned back around, Seth was staring at her.

There was an awkward silence.

Summer was surprised Seth could be quiet for that long. She was even more surprised that she was the first to break it. "Seth," she grumbled, "does it have to be like this?"

Seth raised both eyebrows. "Like what?" He went for the innocent act.

Summer sighed and gave him her pleading eyes. "This." she emphasized. "Awkward. Silent. Cold?" she tried. Seth was shaking his head as if all she was saying was absurd. "Well, at least _you're_ being cold. Not me. I'm being nice." she slightly pouted.

Seth looked up and laughed bitterly. "You expect me to just welcome you back?!" he asked, his gaze returning to hers. It was blazing. "'Hey Summer!'" he began in a fake 'perky' voice. "'I haven't seen or spoken to you since you left me! And with nothing to find you! But hey! It's no big deal. I mean, okay," he cocked his head in an understanding way, "'you broke my heart. But that was only twelve years ago. I forgot all about it. I forgive you! Let's be friends!'" he finished, hugging himself all over.

Summer narrowed her eyes. "Not fair…" she murmured.

Seth's eyes widened. "Not fair?!" he yelled angrily, flinging his arms up in the air. "Summer!" he exclaimed, "You left _me_! Out of the blue. For no reason." he deadpanned. "And we were doing great! Seriously. Summer. We were doing _so_ great." His voice broke a little, his emotions were getting the best of him. "Then," he added, "you just left. Fled. Whatever. Without leaving anything for us to find you. No note. No telephone call. Nothing. You could have dropped a bomb on us, telling us you were leaving. I wouldn't have minded. Beats not knowing at all. But you didn't. You disappeared. And I was worried as hell. I thought someone might have kidnapped you! Or worse," he paused, looking at her sharply, "You were killed. Anything could have happened! Then! Neil comes to my house. Tells me that you left. Purposely. How the hell do you think that makes me feel?!" he asked, his voice gradually lowering.

"Hey!" she said, her voice sounding emotional but demanding. "It was just as hard for me to leave you as it was for you to see me gone!" she said loudly. Thank God for sound proof classrooms.

"Then why did you do it?!" Seth shot back. "Because you got pregnant?!"

Summer looked surprised and stumbled back.

"Oh, don't look so surprised." Seth snapped, jerking his head at her. "It's not that hard to figure out. She's twelve years old and in the seventh grade. Twelve years ago, you were with me." he said quietly. "And to tell you the truth," he added, "I think I know why you left." he shot her a curious look.

"Yeah?" Summer asked sarcastically. "Why?" she challenged. Summer knew Seth couldn't know. Or even think of it. He wasn't that smart. And besides, it wasn't something you could just guess.

"My only guess is," he began softly, "is that you cheated."

There was a silence.

Seth studied her, his eyes not sure of her reaction.

Summer blinked twice before she realized what he said and her eyes widened. "What?!" she yelled. "I—" she stopped. "Wow." she said, her voice returning to normal. She shot him a disapproving stare. "I never thought that you'd, Seth Cohen, would ever accuse me of that. _Me_. After all we've went through…" she left the words hanging. How could he think that? That she would cheat on him. She _loved_ him. "I thought you were smarter than that."

Seth looked guilty for a second but his expression immediately changed back to anger. He scoffed. "Don't try that crap on me, Summer. It's not going to work anymore."

"I DIDN'T CHEAT!" Summer yelled, placing both hands on her hips.

"No? Well, then, how else do you explain it?" He looked lost. "I'm thinking… I don't know. You cheated on me. You know, slept with a guy. Got pregnant." He saw Summer's nostrils flare. "Then," he continued, "realized if you stayed with me, I would see the baby. That I'd see nothing resembling me." he looked down at his shoes. "So you took off. Maybe running away with your 'lover'" he air quoted in a slightly mocking way.

"Seth, I said I didn't cheat. And you could give me a little more credit." Summer hissed at him. She looked away, out the window.

"Summer! Look at me!" Seth yelled.

She did.

"Then you tell me." he said. "Tell me. Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?! And why did you take off?!"

"Seth. I, I—" Summer stuttered.

"Did you think I would run away?" Seth cut in. "Abandon you?!" he yelled. "Summer! This is _me_. Seth Cohen. You know, that guy. You knew how much I adored you. And you knew how much I loved you." his voice had gotten quiet.

Loved. Ouch.

Seth opened his mouth, but then closed it. He moved closer to Summer. "I can't think of any good reason to why you would leave me." he said softly. "Even then I didn't." he looked at her shoulder. "I tried _so_ hard to give myself reasons, you know? Maybe it was something I did. Or something I didn't do. I don't know. And I kept thinking that maybe, you would change your mind and come back. Because that's how much I thought we loved each other. Enough to bring you back to me." He looked back up at Summer, squarely in the eye.

"Seth," Summer begged, "I promise you. There were no reasons. You did nothing wrong. I didn't leave because I wanted to," she said, "I left because I had to. I had no other option." Without wanting to, tears began to form around Summer's eyes. She blinked them away. "I wanted to come back and see you. I did. Really. But, But I couldn't. No. Not without—" she stopped, and looked behind Seth's head.

"Yes?" Seth urged on.

She didn't want to explain it now. She tried a different approach. "She's yours, you know." Summer said, looking back at Seth.

"What?" he asked, clearly confused. Summer just changed the subject. Why didn't she come back?

"Michael Ann." Summer explained. "She's yours. You're her father."

"Summer, that has not—" realization hit Seth. Hard. He certainly wasn't thinking of Michael Ann, Summer's daughter. Not as his, anyway. Just Summer and her reasons for leaving. "She's mine?" he asked. He knew it. He wasn't stupid. But he had to ask. And he couldn't help but feel shocked.

Summer gave him a sad smile. "It's obvious," she said softly. "I said I didn't cheat. She's twelve years old."

Seth nodded his head, looking at his hands. "Right…" he said, "She's mine. She's mine. I'm Michael Ann's father." He scratched his head. "I guess," he stuttered, "I guess, I kind of new that. I, uh, I just wasn't thinking of her..." he trailed off.

There was another awkward silence.

This time, it was Seth to break it. Not too happy, I might add. "Summer," he said in a calm voice with an edge, "I want to know what the hell happened. I missed twelve years of your life… and… and my daughters life. I, I wasn't there to support her. Summer," he looked furious, "Explain to me why I couldn't be there for you. Please. Tell me why."

Summer knew this was coming up. She couldn't hide from it forever. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. "Okay," she said slowly, "It's your grandfather. Caleb." she took in another breath. "It's Caleb Nichol's fault."

* * *

**A/N**: I'm sorry you guys! This was a pretty bad chapter. I had this nice conversation (okay, not so much nice, but anyway) and it was really good and it made things less confusing. But I don't know what happened to my file. So I rewrote everything. Not easy. If you have any questions, just ask, ill get back to you all. Thank you! R &R :D

**Next Time:**

- Caleb Nichol? Flashback.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Hello, welcome back! I'm surprised you're still reading this! But I'm really happy, too! I would like to thank everyone for their awesome reviews and tips. I actually have the first couple of chapters made up. I just have to make it more detailed and have dialogue. But I assure you; I'm using some of your ideas! I just have summaries to tell you the truth. To Riley313 and karla Ochoa, your reviews made me feel really good. Not that anyone else's reviews weren't as good, just that you noticed I was trying to make the story different. Special thanks! KS & RM will show up eventually, after SS sort through their problems. As for Michael Ann, well, you'll find out later. This Chapter begins with a flashback. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer** (I forgot about this): why yes, I DO own the O.C. that's why I'm writing this fan fic.

_Summer knew this was coming up. She couldn't hide from it forever. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. "Okay," she said slowly, "It's your grandfather. Caleb." she took in another breath. "It's Caleb Nichol's fault."_

**Summer 2005 **

Summer Roberts sat on the cold, hard surface of the bathtub and waited quietly. After a couple of seconds, she began humming a toneless tune. That didn't work either. The anticipation was killing her. Drip. Drip. Drip. Summer looked over at the sink and watched the water drops fall swiftly from the faucet into the sink. She bit down on her lower lip and looked over at the clock. "God, this is so nerve wrecking." She thought to herself. Tick tock. Tick tock. Bzzpt. It had been three minutes.

"Finally!" Summer called out. "Took the stupid thing long enough!" She sucked in a deep breath and turned over the stick.

After seeing the results, Summer felt wet drops forming around her eyes.

It was pink.

She was pregnant.

"Hello?" a muffled voice said over the other line.

"Cohen!" Summer almost screamed, her voice echoing in the bathroom. She winced a little, knowing she was a tad bit louder than usual.

"Whoa! Summer!" Seth exclaimed, "I know you get all excited hearing my voice, but jeez! Do you have to be so loud?" You could hear the smile in his voice.

"Shut it, Cohen. I need to talk to you." Summer said, who too had a smile on. She knew Seth was happy to talk to her.

"Okay. Shoot."

Summer took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut, a smile still playing on her lips. "Well," she began, "okay. I have some big news. No, scratch that. Major news!" she half yelled into the phone. "News that can change our future entirely! And! Oh My Gosh! Cohen! I'm so excited!" She exclaimed. She bit down on her lip, waiting for his response.

There was silence, and Seth waited for Summer to continue. Nothing happened.

"Okay…" Seth said, breaking the silence. "There's big news. Got it. You're excited. Get that too. What I don't get is," he paused, "the news." He confirmed. "What is it?"

Summer grinned. "Well, it's good news." She stated. "At least, I think so. I'm not really thinking of it as bad news. Mainly because when I tell you, it will be more real. More real than it already is, anyway. Then I'll start thinking of everything else. But! All I'm thinking of right now is being happy. With you." She replied, delight evident in her voice.

Silence.

Seth was confused. "Um, Okay. Summer," he began, "as much as I love hearing you say you're happy with me, will you get on to the point and tell me the news? I'm getting kind of nervous. What will be more real?" he asked curiously.

Summer let out a little laugh. She forgot how much of a worrier Seth Cohen was. "Oh!" she said, "I'm sorry, Cohen. I didn't mean to worry you. I assure you, it's nothing bad. I promise. I know you'll be happy." She replied. She was right. He would be happy. He dreamt of this his whole life. Literally. Okay, maybe not at that age, but they'd work it out, right? "But the thing is, it's really important. And big! So! I don't really want to tell you…" her voice lowered, "over the phone." she finished.

Seth caught on. Mighty fast he was. "Oh! Okay. Good." he was relieved. "Uh, should I come over now?" he asked.

Summer slightly scrunched her face up. "Cohen," she drawled out, "are you not getting it? It's big news!" She sounded annoyed.

She already said that. "Okay. I get it. You won't tell me on the phone. If you don't want me to come over, then what do you want me to do?"

Summer sighed. He wasn't getting it. She stood up from the bathtub ledge and walked over to the sink, placing the phone on the other side of her ear. "Take me to dinner, ass." She said through the phone. "And treat me somewhere really nice." She demanded lightly.

Seth grinned. "Oh! Oh. Oh. Oh. Ha! I get it." He said, playing it off smoothly. He ignored the insult. "Okay, I'll take you out. Where to?" he asked.

"Hmm," Summer replied, pretending to think. "I don't know. Surprise me!"

Seth chuckled, and there was a shuffling noise in the background. "Will do." He said. "See you then."

Summer smiled. "Cohen?" she said.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Seth's day brightened. "I love you, too, Sum. Pick you up at eight."

Click.

And with that, the line went blank. Dead. Poof.

Summer rested the phone on the sink, next to the soap. She flopped down on the toilet seat and replayed everything that had just happened. Seth was picking her up at eight. She ran out of the bathroom, excited about what was to happen, and went looking for a dress to wear that evening. Life was great.

* * *

Caleb Nichol was a very rich man. He was well-known and powerful, too. He had connections everywhere. He had been accused of fraud, theft, and bribery. Yet, he was a free, walking man; someone who had his ways. He was sitting on his very fancy, very uncomfortable chair, smoking one of those expensive and illegal Cuban cigars, when the phone rang. 

He set down his beverage and cigar onto the glass table beside him, and let the phone ring a bit. After all, men like Caleb Nichol don't answer quickly.

"Caleb Nichol," he answered, his voice sounding gruff and annoyed.

He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Yes," he muttered, "Mhm. Right. What about S—" he paused, "WHAT?!" he suddenly stood up, yelling into the phone. "HOW DID THIS— I CANNOT BELI— I—" he was too shocked to complete a simple sentence.

After a few seconds, he had calmed down and sat back into his chair.

"Right," he snapped. "I see. Excellent idea," he droned out with an agreeing tone. "You sure no one else knows? Okay. Thank you, Rachel."

Caleb eased back into his chair, and picked up his cigar. After a moment, he replied back into the phone, "I will wire money into your account first thing in the morning, darling."

Click.

Caleb grabbed his drink and took a long swig, draining the cup. He stared ahead of him, looking off into the darkness.

When Caleb Nichol found out his grandson, Seth Cohen, was going to be a father, he immediately took charge.

* * *

"Ding Dong," the door screamed, grabbing Summer's attention. She was surprised to see who was at the door. 

"Mr. Nichol?" she asked with bemusement in her voice. "What are you doing here?"

Caleb Nichol furrowed his eyebrows and grimaced.

"That's not how you greet guest is it, Miss Roberts?" he asked coldly, pushing past Summer and inviting himself into the house.

Confused, Summer blinked into the empty spaced that was just recently occupied and slowly closed the door. She followed Mr. Nichol as he snooped around, throwing a nasty glance at whatever he disapproved of.

She waited for him to speak, but he said nothing. He continued to look around.

"Um…" she began, "are you looking for my father? Because he's not here right now. But Rachel's here…" she said, trailing off.

Caleb turned around and looked at Summer with a confused expression, staring at the young girl in front of him.

"You know… my stepmother…" Summer explained, gesturing nervously with her hands. "She's here if you want to talk to her."

"Ah No. Actually, I'm here to see you," Caleb replied, his voice sounding bored. "I have something to discuss with you." This time it came out harsh.

Summer raised and eyebrow and pointed at herself.

"Me?" she asked, a little annoyed. Who did he think he was, barging in her house and judging her? Oh right, Caleb Nichol.

Caleb rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Yes, you."

"Okay, well, talk," Summer replied carelessly, putting two hands on her hips. She was fed up with having to be cordial.

Again, Caleb glanced around the room, staring at the loud TV screen.

"Somewhere more private? And quiet? …maybe a room?"

"Uh, Okay. Sure. Follow me," Summer replied unenthusiastically. She began walking towards a nearby room, awkward echoes filling up the silence as Caleb followed closely behind.

He took a seat on the couch when they entered, and Summer chose the seat right across from him.

Silence loomed over the two for a brief moment.

Unfortunately, Caleb broke it. "Okay then," he began, talking in his mighty business voice, "right to the point. Summer, I know you're pregnant."

Summer let out a small gasp.

"I also know my grandson is the father."

Summer's eyes grew. She had not expected this.

"What? How did you—? When—" she stammered, not really knowing what to say.

"Simple," Caleb prompted. "Rachel heard you in the bathroom and your conversation with Seth. When the coast was clear, she walked into the bathroom, and voila," he paused, narrowing his eyes and finishing quietly, "she saw the test."

Summer just stared at him, wide-eyed. Was that a problem?

Caleb continued, looking down at his suit and brushing off some imaginary lint. "As you know, Miss Roberts, I am a man of… what's the word? Power? Wealth? Order?" he listed, pondering it himself. "and I can have anything I want to happen. And Miss Roberts," he leaned in so he was two inches away from her face, "I mean anything."

He leaned back into his chair.

"It doesn't even have to be true. I can snap my fingers and," he paused, adding a dramatic effect towards his words, "very bad things can happen."

"Huh?" Was all Summer could say. Her head was starting to hurt. What on earth was he talking about?

She cleared her throat.

"I don't understand what you're trying to say, sir."

Caleb heaved out an exaggerated sigh.

"I want you to have an abortion," he stated. "There is no need for a baby around. Especially at your age."

Summer's mouth dropped open and she shook her head, as if Caleb were out of his mind.

"Excuse me!" she sang out angrily, gripping onto the couches' arms. "Who are you to tell me what to do with my baby?! Seth's baby?!"

"His grandfather, that's who," Caleb calmly replied.

Summer narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice. "I think Seth and I are old enough to make our own decisions," she spat out. "And besides," she added, "I would never hurt a living creature, especially if it belonged to me OR Seth."

Caleb stiffened and stared hard at Summer. "Then leave," he coldly replied. "Leave Newport and never come back."

Summer rolled her eyes, and huffed.

"You sound like the freaking Lion Kin—"

"Have your damn baby!" Caleb yelled, standing up before Summer and hovering over her.

She whimpered and felt smaller than usual, staring into the old man's eyes.

"But not here, in Newport," he whispered, the smell of alcohol forming around Summer.

"Or even in California," Caleb continued. "I want you to leave the county. I want you to leave your family, your friends, and—" he growled, "Seth."

Summer mustered all of her courage and faced up to Caleb. "What the hell?" she replied, "And what makes you think I'm just going to agree with you and do that?" she challenged.

Caleb through his hands into the air and gestured loudly.

"Why?!" he exclaimed, "Idiot girl! You are seventeen years old! Seth is seventeen years old! That is not the age for people to have kids! Do you not get it? You are too young to be pregnant!"

"And when did you suddenly get all concerned about my welfare?" Summer shot back, returning his gaze.

Caleb Nichol barked a loud laugh. "You misunderstand me, Miss Roberts," he said slowly. "I do not care about your welfare. The fact of the matter is," he paused, "I will not let the future of my company be ruined by a… a—" he hesitated to find the right word, "harlot!" he half hissed, half screamed through clenched teeth.

"You will not ruin Seth's life. Not with a silly thing such as a baby. I will not allow it," Caleb announced.

He closed his eyes for a second and opened them back up in a slow, dramatic movement. "As I've said earlier," he drawled out, matching Summer's intense glare, "I command you to leave."

There was a huge cracking noise, and Caleb's right cheek was shining a scarlet red.

"What I do with my life is none of your goddamn business," Summer hissed back. "And who I spend my life with certainly isn't, either. So just back off! Or I will—"

"You will do nothing." Caleb interrupted, hushing Summer with his hand.

"You will leave," he said quietly, breathing hard. "Because if you don't," he threatened, "your father will, I don't know, somehow find himself out of a job. And no one in this world, for some crazy reason, will hire him."

Summer shook her head, denying what Caleb was saying.

"His money," he continued, "his house, and all his belongings will be taken by his wife, Rachel, who will divorce him once he looses his job. You, being his daughter, will be stuck in poverty with him. The bonus? The guilt that it was your fault will live with you forever, and how are you going to tell you father about that?"

Summer raised her hand again, ready to strike before Caleb grabbed it. He leaned towards her face, close enough that Summer could smell the smell of a pricey cigar.

"Not only do I have the power to do that," he whispered coldly, "I also have the power to make Seth's life miserable without him even knowing it. He'll go down, and he'll still love me."

Summer pulled her hands away from Mr. Nichol's grasp and burst into tears. "No!" she yelled, "no. no. no. no. no." she stammered, sobbing at the same time. She fell to the floor. This couldn't be happening. "You bastard! YOU WOULDN'T DARE—"

"I wouldn't?" Caleb asked in a mocking surprised tone. "Now Miss Roberts," he said sweetly, kneeling down towards her level and looking at her squarely in the face, "what makes you think you know me so well? How do you know what I will do? Fact is, I will."

"He's your grandson…" Summer whispered hoarsely.

Caleb ignored her comment and stood up. He straightened his suit and looked straight down at her.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Roberts," he said firmly. "I expect you to be gone within twenty-four hours. Preferably tomorrow morning."

Summer looked up at him, showing that he was crazy to think that she would be gone so soon. Caleb pulled out his wallet and grabbed a handful of cash out and threw it at Summer's face.

"Take this, and get the hell out. Where?" he said, "I don't give a damn. How? Same answer."

He looked at her with disgust.

He began walking towards the door; Summer's muffled cries could be heard. "This is what you get for getting pregnant, Miss Roberts," he said behind his back.

He turned around to look at Summer one last time. "And if you tell anyone about this, I will know."

Summer grabbed the closest object near her and hurled it at Mr. Nichol.

She missed.

Caleb smiled. "Good day, Miss Roberts." With that, he turned back around and left a crying Summer to herself.

* * *

Summer finished her story. Granted, it was a little less detailed, but Seth got the gist. 

"I… uh, I—" Seth stammered, clearly not knowing what to say. His mind was racing, absorbing everything she had just told him. At first he thought it was a lie. That she was just making an excuse up. After all, it was his grandfather. No matter how bad his grandfather was towards others, to Seth, there was always pride and respect in their relationship. And when Summer went away, Caleb was so sympathetic. He would have never suspected it. But then, he also knew Summer wouldn't stoop that low, and surprisingly enough, Seth still trusted her. Especially with the way she looked at him when she told him her story, he knew it was no lie.

Seth looked at Summer hard for several seconds.

"I… have no idea what to say to that."

"I'm sorry, Seth," came Summer's reply. She was looking down at the floor; tears were slowly but surely, rolling down her face.

"Summer..." Seth whispered.

Summer's heart raced at his soft, delicate voice.

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Because I—" she started, she let out sigh. "Because even though there were risks I had to take and choices I had to make… I still lied to you. I left you. And I took your child away from you. I know it was unintentional… but I still think I should apologize."

She lifted her head up with a shameful smile and saw he was staring at her. Their eyes locked.

"Yeah, but… I don't think you should apologize… not with that reason…" he trailed off, not know what else to say.

"But I'll accept your apology anyway," he finished before shooting her a grin. He was trying hard to break the intense silence. Luckily, she returned it.

They had a moment.

After a couple of minutes of silence, Summer walked over to an empty desk and sat down.

Both she and Seth stared at each other again.

She saw he was openly looking her over, from her face down to her feet, with a linger in the middle.

So she, without realizing it, began to check Seth out as well.

He still looked like that same Seth Cohen she fell in love with. He had his Jew-fro that was as Jewish as ever, and he still wore his infamous novelty tees (in school, no less). He was a little taller and he still had that adorable smile that made girls swoon and want to throw their underwear at him.

Though he still seemed the same, he was different too.

He definitely got more toned, but not too muscular. His skin was slightly darker than it was the last time she saw him. And he was not freshly shaved either. He had a couple of stubbles, and to her (and lots of other women who have eyes), it was kind of sexy.

"Oh God," Summer muttered under her breath. She just thought Seth Cohen was sexy.

Summer started giggling softly.

Seth noticed this and shot her an uncertain smile.

"What? What's so funny?"

Summer looked up at his question. "Huh? No, um, nothing… it's nothing…" she said, still some giggles coming out. She blushed a little.

Seth was not convinced. He did, however, let it go.

"Okay, if you say so—"

"Do you not want to talk about it?" Summer asked suddenly.

Seth was caught off guard.

"Um, talk about what?"

"You know…" she pressed, "your feelings about all of this?"

Seth squinted and thought a bit.

"To be honest, I really don't know how I feel about all of this. I'm still kind of processing it. It's not that easy you know," he let out a low chuckle, "I went on from wondering why you left me for the last twelve year to well, this," he said, gesturing to the Summer's story bubble that lingered between them.

"And…" he added on quietly, "I have a daughter."

Summer bit her lip. "Yeah, you do… and it's funny—" she saw his glare, "okay, not so much funny, but ironic that you met her. And she met you. I mean, okay, she didn't know you were her father… but still, you know, wow," she uttered at her own realization, "you guys met…"

"Yeah," Seth agreed, "wow," he echoed.

"So… what did you think of her?" Summer asked with a slight eagerness in her voice.

Seth looked thoughtful.

"I don't know. I mean, I don't know her… not personally, anyway," he hesitated, "but what I do know about her from our meeting each other is that… she looks exactly like you," he said, a small smile surfacing on his face. "She's beautiful, Sum. You did a good job."

"Excellent, Cohen, I did an excellent job."

Seth's smile grew bigger and he nodded his head.

"Right… an excellent job."

Talk about awkward moments. Summer broke it.

"Well, she may have my good looks, but her brains definitely came from you. Like seriously! She's a little Einstein if you ask me. She talks so much about everything, and she asks lots of intelligent and insightful questions, you know? It's like she's wiser beyond her years. Seriously, it's not even funny."

Summer grinned widely as she yapped away about Michael Ann, and Seth liked it. You know, when Summer smiled.

"Yeah, she seems like a smart kid. And I peeked at her transcripts after I learned her name… perfect attendance, excellent grades, lots of community work…"

"Yup, I love to help her out with volunteering," Summer sighed, "I really love her, Cohen. She's this huge part of my life…"

"I know," Seth said quietly, "I just wish I was a part of it."

Summer felt guilty and began to fidget in her seat.

"Well… you can now, right? Be a part of it, I mean. With both of us living here… I don't see why not. I mean, you do want to be a part of Michael Ann and I… right?"

"Right," Seth replied, his voice sounding sad.

"Cohen, I'm so sorry. Again for—"

"—it's not your fault, Summer. Stop apologizing," Seth said, cutting her off sharply.

Summer sighed. She hated weird and awkward moments like these.

"So... what do we do now?"

Seth looked confused.

"About what?"

"Our daughter, Seth," Summer replied, "I mean, what do we do about Michael Ann?"

Realization began to settle in Summer's thoughts.

"Seth! How do we tell her? When do we tell her? What do we tell her?"

Summer was starting to get worried, she did not think about this at all. She stood up from the desk and started pacing around the room.

"Oh my god. How do you think she'll take it? Will she be upset? Will she be happy? Confused?! Damn it, Cohen, I'm freaking out here!"

She turned to Seth and stared at him expectantly.

"Answer me!" she yelled.

Rage black outs, right.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Seth said immediately, moving towards her. "Summer, calm down, everything will be fine," he continued, his voice soothing and soft. He grabbed her waist to stop her from moving all over the place. Invisible sparks shot out from everywhere when he touched her. Something he tried hard to ignore.

"We'll, uh, just tell her the next time we see her, okay? I think the sooner we tell her, the better, right?"

He was looking down at her, her face staring at his hands. They were just inches apart.

"Right," Summer slowly breathed in, "because if we wait too long she'll suspect something and accuse us of lying and keeping it a secret. So, the sooner, the better," she repeated in a small voice.

She felt the sparks and looked down at her waist. His hands were still there. She lifted her head and again, Seth's eyes locked with hers, only this time, there was potential they'd stay that way forever.

Summer was beautiful, and he couldn't stop looking at her. She was still Summer Roberts, a little older, yes, but still the same girl that took his breath away. Her hair reached only her shoulders, so it was a little different for him, but he liked it. And to Seth's great relief, Summer was still small and curvy: the right size that fit him perfectly.

It had been a really long time, and Seth told himself over and over again, 'I'm over her,' 'I'm over her,' 'I'm over her,' and at one point in his life, he truly believed it. But now, standing in front of her and seeing her again, he knew that everything he told himself was a lie. Words were nothing.

"So, it's settled, then. We tell her once we see her?"

His hands remained in place.

"Yeah. I think that's best, I guess…" she trailed off, "Cohen?"

"Yeah?"

"You're kind of freaking me out..." she stated nervously.

Seth titled his head to the side. "What?"

"I mean, you haven't said anything about your grandfather… or what your feelings towards him are. In fact, you haven't said a word about your family… and your life, basically. You usually can't help but talk about yourself, so it's a little weird for me…" she smiled at him teasingly, "I'm not used to it."

Seth returned the gesture. "Again, still processing," he explained, "well, actually, I'm not really thinking about it. I honestly don't want to think about it. Not now at least. I just want to think about…"

"Yes?"

"You…" he said quietly, "us," he murmured even more silently.

"Us..." Summer repeated, just as soft, "is there even still an 'us' to think about?"

"I don't know, Summer… I—" he thought for a second, growing even more frustrated by the second, "god, this is all screwed up. I don't even know what to think or believe anymore…"

"Your mind finally processing?" Summer joked.

"It's beginning to..." he replied offhandedly. "Okay, let me just get this straight. My grandfather, the father of my mother, and Marissa's stepfather, threatened your life, my life, and your father's life. Correct?"

"Correct."

"He told you to get an abortion and you refused, right?"

She nodded her head, "right."

"So then… he told you to leave and you had no choice but to listen to his orders, right?"

"Again, right. Cohen, this is pointless."

"Wait, I'm not finished," Seth amended, "So you did, listen to him, I mean, and you took off to… Colorado?"

"Colorado," Summer stated firmly.

"Why here?"

"Why not here?"

"It just doesn't seem like a place for Summer Roberts."

Summer rolled her eyes. "And where would you expect Summer Roberts to go, Cohen?"

"I don't know… To be honest, I figured you'd want to stay in Newport, or somewhere in California. Perhaps New York? Miami, Las Vegas… Arizona, even. I guess somewhere crazy, hot, and wild."

Summer smiled at his answer.

"It does seem I'd like to live in that kind of place doesn't it? It still sounds appealing to me," she laughed a little, "but it's the total opposite. See, I wanted to go somewhere I knew for a fact was a safe place to let my child grow up in. I didn't want her to live the 'dramatic' life you and I had to grow up with. Surprisingly, though, it didn't work. Elite and Snobville are everywhere. I figured rather here than somewhere my dad or worse, Caleb, would be able to find me. At first it was hard because we lived in a place not even close to glamorous, or even nice for that matter. We stayed in places even worse than that sleazy hotel we had to sleep in during our trip to TJ," Summer paused, living in a half second of nostalgia, "I worked really hard to get where I am Cohen. I'm really proud of myself."

"Yeah?" Seth said, a side-lopped smile forming on his face. "Well, I'm proud of you too, Sum."

Summer appreciated his comment.

"So, your brain done processing?"

"I think so."

"And?"

"And unfortunately, my job is already taken care of."

"What?"

"Caleb died a couple of months ago... heart attack."

A huge sense of relief washed over Summer. "Wow. If he weren't so powerful, I'd have done him in years ago."

Seth chuckled. "Yeah…" he trailed off with open sadness.

Summer noticed this.

"Don't tell me you're upset about him dying!"

"What? No! Well, yeah… I mean, I'm not sad that he's gone… I'm just upset that I wasn't the one who caused his death," Seth finished, smiling playfully.

Summer rolled her eyes with a smile.

"That's all you have to say?"

"Pretty much. Look, Sum, I don't really want to talk about it right now. Please, let's just change the subject. I'll talk about it when I'm ready, deal?"

Summer looked down for second, then back up.

If he didn't want to tell her just now, she'd give him that. When he was ready, he'd tell her. It's not like he was going anywhere.

Summer sighed.

"Deal. So… if we're not going to talk about it, um… how are Sandy and Kirsten?"

"Good. Nothing new."

Short answer.

"Um, okay… have you heard from Ryan lately?"

"Sure. We talk often, actually."

Funny, for someone who wanted to change subjects, he sure is being curt.

"—and…?"

"And he's good, too. He's actually working as an architect. Surprise, Surprise!" Seth said sarcastically.

"Well, Chino did go to college for that occupation."

"Right. Wow, 'Chino.' Haven't heard that in forever."

Summer ignored his comment and hesitated before saying, "And Coop? How's she doing?"

Seth stared at her.

"Wow. You haven't talked to anyone have you? You really did give up everything…"

Summer looked down. "I was scared..." she stated softly, some emotion reaching her voice.

"Marissa is fine, too," Seth cut her off, trying to help her with the sensitivity of the situation.

"She's a professional photographer, mostly in fashion and design. She's made quite a name for herself in California and in New York."

"Yeah? Well, that's good. Coop always said she wanted to do something that had to do with art. It was her major, after all…"

"Yours too, you know."

"Oh, yeah, right. Mine too," Summer let out laugh, "but I guess I came out with fashion art and Coop came out with photography art."

Seth hesitated, not sure if he should bring up the subject, but did anyway. "Summer, did you even go to college?"

Summer gave him an intricate look. "Actually, yes, I did. When Michael Ann got old enough for school, I went to the community college. Eventually, I transferred into The Art Institute of Colorado. Fortunately, we worked around my schedule. I worked mornings, and then I went college in the afternoon. I also worked weekends. Daycare was a life saver at one point."

She finished her story, and then there was silence. Not awkward; comfortable.

A sudden realization made Summer laugh.

Seth's content expression changed to a questionable one.

"You know… it's funny. We went from angry, to emotional, to happy, to awkward, to angry again, to frustrated, happy again, awkward again, sad, and finally, to comfortable silence all in a short time."

Seth shared the ironic smile. "That is true… our conversations did jump around a lot. Especially our topics. Did we even finish a topic?"

"I don't think so," Summer sighed, "It's been a crazy day."

"It has, hasn't it? Us. The shocking story… seeing each other after twelve years…"

"Yeah," Summer agreed, "I'm just happy you aren't angry with me."

Seth's face fell. "Summer, of course I'm not angry with you. I mean, I admit, I was, before. When I saw you in your car with Michael Ann? But I didn't know. And now… I don't know how I feel. Disappointment? Maybe. Sadness? There's that. Happy? Well, I'm getting there," Seth flashed a smile, "but angry? No. There's none of that."

Summer smiled in relief and looked down.

"Cohen?"

"Yeah?"

"Your hands are still on my waist."

Beat.

Seth blinked. "I know."

Summer felt him pull her a fraction of an inch closer. She took in his scent. Funny, he still smelt the same: Soap, laundry detergent, and a slight hint of cologne.

She smiled.

She felt Seth tugging her closer, and she couldn't help but put both arms around his neck. She noticed his eyes were still that familiar brown she could always spot out. It wasn't just regular brown. No, it was much more than that. She couldn't associate it with anyone else's it. It was full of unique, and full of this endearing passion. It was… Cohen.

"It's been a really long time…" Summer whispered as his face inched closer.

"A really long time…" Seth breathed out in agreement.

"…and with Michael Ann," she paused, "I don't know if anything should be happening right now. It's a lot to handle… too much in such a short time…" her voice came out breathy and quick.

He nodded his head in agreement.

"I agree with you. Nothing should happen. I still haven't grasped the fact that you're right here, now. In my arms, I might add. Or that I have, or rather, we, have a daughter..."

His face was slowly coming towards hers, and he could smell a strong scent of vanilla coming from her. She smelt like a coffee shop.

Then it happened.

They kissed.

Seth couldn't control himself and he kissed Summer, hard. Her response was quick and conserved like momentum, for she kissed back with the same amount of force. Their kisses became shorter, quicker, and more frustrated. Both were reacting to what the other was giving out, and Seth realized he was shoving his emotions at her. He slowed his pace, and made the kisses lighter… longer… and more lingering.

Summer was dying for more when he pulled away. She needed it. She craved it. And without much effort, she got it.

It wasn't long before the two of them were kissing again.

Seth had taken a chance, and much to his delight, the response was electric.

* * *

Hands were everywhere. Limbs? all over the place. Mouths glued to each other, and hair thrown in every angle. Passion was building between the two as their kisses became desperate and harder. Seth moved Summer backwards past the dozens of desks, the 'Five Rules to No PDA' poster, the suddenly opened door, and ran Summer into the bulletin board. His hands roamed her body and an husky laugh escaped her lips. 

A cough was heard behind them.

"Mom?"

Busted.

* * *

**A/N**: Okay, first off, I would like to say, this was a particularly bad chapter. The second one was a Nobel Prize piece of work compared to this chapter. If you're confused, I completely understand that, and I'm sorry. Just ask questions. I was having a hard time writing this, mainly because I didn't want Seth to be angry and worrying about, but I didn't want him to seem like everything didn't matter, either. I'll say though, Seth's reaction was done purposely. Seth doesn't really show his emotions that much, unless he's determined, like, say, getting Summer back ;) but when Ryan left, he didn't show anything to him, he just took off afterwards. When Kirsten had to go to rehab, he didn't show anything. Even when Caleb really died. So, sorry if it's confusing. And the both of them were going off topic purposely as well, because they hadn't seen each other in a really long time, so it was weird for them. They didn't know how to react. Soon though, they'll be back to bickering, they just have to find their "groove." And the flashback, seemed kind of rushed, didn't it? I hope it didn't. When I play their conversation in my head, I can totally see that happening between Caleb and Summer, but on paper, (or fanfic), it seems like Summer is OOC. I hope that's just my imagination. I'm trying hard to make this a loveable Summer and Seth fic, but I don't want it to be just like all the others, you know? So anyway, again, I apologize for this chapter being confusing. If it disappoints you, I'm all to blame! Just tell me what you think was wrong or needed fixed. Thank you! R&R. 


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: AHH! Okay, you can hit me! It's been, like, two days I believe. Things around my house has been hectic. I've been reading & my brother came back:D I'm extremely happy you enjoy my story! I seriously thought it was going horrible. But, in the end, you guys liked it. So, I shall continue! Thank you to EVERYONE who reviewed! It means so much to me! I hope you like this chapter! If you have any suggestions, state them. I don't mind (I do have a couple of the future chapters planned out, but I can always add more). Thank you again, and enjoy!

_A cough was heard behind them._

"_Mom?"_

_Busted._

At the sound of the way too familiar voice, Summer pulled away from Seth immediately.

She was caught in the act, and all Summer could do was stare at Summer, eyes wide open.

There was a long, long silence as Michael Ann stared at her mother. Her expression was not a pretty one. Confusion, anger, and disbelief all mixed into one. How delightful.

Michael Ann began to turn away before Summer stopped her.

"M-M-Mike—!" she stammered, "I-I uh, um, I—" she pointed at Seth, "his fault."

Her eyebrows clinched; she bit her bottom lip.

Michael Ann crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow. She turned to Seth.

Seth's mouth opened.

"What?! My fault?!" He looked over at the immature girl beside him. "Summer, this was your fault just as much as it was mine," he turned towards Michael Ann and mouthed, "her fault."

"No! It… It-I, I don't— god! I—" she couldn't think of an excuse.

She had no excuse.

Michael Ann scoffed and glared at the previously mentioned immature girl.

"Wow mom, you know him, like, two seconds and you already have your legs open for him."

Seth's mouth drooped even lower.

"Wow. She is a Cohen. Inappropriate comments at inappropriate times," he said quietly to himself. "Wait, why am I thinking of this… now?!"

He started fiddling his thumbs.

Now it was Summer's turn to get angry. "Oh, you think you're so clever, don't you? Michael Ann Roberts, I am your mother. That is not how you should be speaking to me. You have no righ—"

"No, mother," Michael Ann interrupted rudely, "You're wrong. I have every right. And don't you go full naming me," she snapped back. "He's my freaking English teacher! What the hell are you thinking?!"

"Excuse me! What did I just say?!" Summer yelled back. She was not going to take that tone. "I thought I told you to—" but then she stopped dead in her sentence.

She realized that Michael Ann did have every right to be angry. Even a bitch, for that matter..

'What was I thinking?' Summer thought to herself.

It actually was Seth's fault. He knew that whatever he did, Summer would have followed him. He knew her style, and he certainly knew her antics. He knew, yet used them to his advantage.

Then again, Summer was to blame as well. She knew he knew, and that left a bit of power she had to say no. She let him do it, despite her morals and values. She had kissed him back. Not only that, she enjoyed it; fully, completely, and perfectly.

Summer's face softened to simmering guilt expression.

"I… I don't know," she finished quietly.

Michael Ann's dark expression lightened a little. That is, until she saw Seth.

He was obviously trying to contain his laughter. He had a small smirk on, and amusement was dancing in his eyes. He was busy thinking of the perfect metaphor to describe Michael Ann and Summer (a ping pong match, perhaps) before he knew what was coming.

"And you!" she bellowed while jabbing a finger at him, "You! You are my English teacher! You and I?" she said, gesturing towards herself and Seth, "We just met! You two just met! What the hell were you thinking with kissing my mom?!"

Michael Ann turned to both adults. She groaned angrily.

"Were you guys not thinking of how it might affect me at all?!"

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and counted to ten.

"People are going to be talking…" she muttered under her breath. "They're going to say things," she continued, oblivious to the fact that she looked like cuckoo ladies who spoke to themselves, "and they're going to blow it out of proportion! I can just see it! Bias, look out of the way! Oh now! And they're going to assume mom's a slut. Boy, I bet the teachers are going to love me now. And then there's the grade thing! 'Oh, yeah, her mom is sleeping with the teacher, that's why she has such a good grade.'"

Realizing she was talking to herself, Michael Ann looked up to see four concerned eyes and two bemused expressions.

Her glare intensified.

"You two," she paused, "have got to be the most self-centered people in the world."

How ironic.

Seth chuckled a little, trying to lighten the mood. "I wouldn't doubt it," he chimed in.

Both Michael Ann and Summer shot him a glare.

Seth raised his hands in defense.

"Hey, both of you already knew this about me. I was just simply stating that your," he looked at Michael Ann, "statement was true. We are self-centered."

Through the corner of his eye, he saw Summer put her head down in shame.

"L-Listen," he said quickly, fumbling over his words, "don't be so hard on your mom. We're human, we make mistakes."

Seth glanced at Summer again.

Seth statement meant nothing to Michael Ann. She scoffed in return.

"Who are you to give me advice? I hardly even know you! The only advice I'll be taking from you is English."

Michael Ann looked over at her mom. Her face softened a little. She let out an annoyed sigh and crossed her arms.

"Okay… so… I'm still angry at you," she stated.

Summer continued to stare at the floor.

"He's my teacher," Michael Ann explained softly. "He teaches me things. I see him everyday. I have to communicate with him all the time. If things were to— If—" she let out a frustrated sigh. "Things would be awkward. It'd be hard for me to learn. Not to mention all the gossip I'll have to endure."

Michael Ann saw Seth roll his eyes. She shot him a look before returning to her mom.

"But…" she said, hesitantly, "I don't want to yell or fight, or scream… or whatever anymore," she moved towards her mother and let out a little sigh.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you."

The floor must be interesting or something.

"Th-Thank you, honey," Summer replied quietly, "That mea—"

Michael Ann cut her off.

"Why were you two kissing each other anyway? I mean, okay, I would understand why… but you guys just met!"

She turned to her mother.

"And I know for a fact you're not that type to kiss this quickly. Especially with someone like…" she looked at Seth and grimaced.

"Hey!" Seth protested, feeling a little wounded, "what's wrong with me? I'm—never mind."

Seth looked over at Summer.

"Summer, I think we should really do what we agreed to."

Summer lifted her head up and looked at Seth, then to Michael Ann.

"Yeah…" she agreed timidly, "okay. It's just…" she smiled a little, "it's not easy."

Their little exchange confused Michael Ann. Did they already know each other or something?

"Tell me what?" Michael Ann demanded.

After no reply and watching the two adults avert gazes, Michael Ann sighed.

"Can you please tell me what going on here?"

"Mike, honey, Seth is…" Summer started. She looked towards Seth for helped.

Seth saw this and jumped in. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I—"

"Seth's your father."

A pin dropped onto the ground, and the sound made Summer wince.

A cricket was heard in the distance, and Seth flinched at the growing noise.

An eerie silence wavered over the three and—

Michael Ann blinked twice.

"My…" she trailed off, unable to comprehend what was just said. She tried again. "My…"

Twenty seconds later.

"Father…?"

"Yup," both adults replied in unison.

Michael Ann was quiet.

Then, suddenly, after what seemed like a lifetime away, she burst into giggles. Her giggles soon turned into laughter. And her laughter, into a delightful fit.

Seth and Summer stared at the giggling girl in front of them.

Michael Ann was gasping for air when she was done.

"You're kidding, right?"

Seth and Summer shook their head.

"So, you're saying that he," she pointed at Seth (in a rude manner), "is my … father? My mysterious other half?"

Summer pursed her lips and nodded.

"And you're not kidding?" Michael Ann asked again.

Seth rolled his eyes and said, "No!"

Michael Ann's face became serious.

"Then that was a totally derisive laugh."

Seth and Summer exchanged looks.

"I…" Michael Ann started, "I don't know what to say. Do. Whatever. I—"

She looked at both parents again before closing her eyes.

"I need to get away from here," she said quietly, "Away from you guys. You're making my head hurt. I-I just got to go… somewhere…" she turned on her heels.

Summer instinctively stopped Michael Ann and pulled her by the arm.

"Wait. Mike. Where—" she began in a small voice.

Michael Ann tugged her arm away and looked squarely into her mother's eyes.

It's funny how identical their eyes were, and how different the two girls were.

"I promise I'll be back," Michael Ann promised softly. "Just… let me be."

She began walking away.

Summer started after her.

"But Mike—!"

Seth stopped Summer from getting any further.

"Let her go," he whispered into her ear.

Summer began to fight Seth out of his arms.

"Why?!" she yelled angrily at him, "she's my daughter! Something could happen!"

Seth didn't budge.

"Let go of me, Seth!"

"She said to leave her alone. You just dropped a bunch of information on her. She needs time to think. At least give her that; space. She needs it," Seth calmly replied.

"No!" Summer retorted, still fighting Seth back. "Let me go! Stop, Seth! Let me go! Seth! Let. Me. Go—" tears began to trickle down her face. "Let me go, Seth— Let—" she continued to hit him in the chest as she tried to push away from his freakishly strong hold on her. "Move! Let me go!" Her voice now cracking as the water works began to multiply. "Let… Me…" she panted, her blows getting weaker, her voice getting smaller, "…go," she whispered.

Summer stilled pounded on him, and Seth took it all in.

* * *

"So… is she here?" Summer heard Seth call out from the living room.

Summer emerged from Michael Ann's doorway.

"No," she said sadly, "she's not in her room, either."

She sounded defeated.

Seth let out a deep sigh and rubbed his hands over his face.

"Do you want to go looking for her again?"

"No," Summer said quickly, staring at the front door, "I think… I think I just want to stay here and wait for her… you know… until she comes back… she'll come back… she promised. She wouldn't have if she wasn't thinking of coming back… yeah. Yeah. Yeah! She'll be back… Yeah."

"Who are you trying to convince, me or you?"

Summer shot him a look before sighing a little.

"I don't know anymore…"

Summer moved passed Seth and collapsed onto the couch.

Seth heard her let out an exasperated sigh. He looked over at his watch.

1:27 AM.

He looked back at Summer.

"Okay… well, I guess I should get going? It's pretty late. And… I have school tomorrow." He chuckled. "You know, you'd think I'd get used to saying that, but it still sounds really weird to me."

Summer didn't say anything.

"Okay, well, um, I'll see you later?" He took her silence as a confirmed reaction. "Okay, well, bye."

He turned and walked towards the door.

"Cohen?"

He whirled around and stared at the big brown couch in front of him. He couldn't see her.

"Yeah?"

"Wait with me."

"I don't—" he paused, "yeah. Okay, yeah, sure."

"Thank you, Cohen."

Seth awkwardly shuffled into the living room and looked at Summer.

She returned his gaze.

He moved over towards her and she made room for him. He put his arm around her and kissed her forehead for reassurance.

"I can't believe you were going to just leave me here," she whispered.

The dark shadowed them, and he couldn't see her face.

"Huh? What? I— No. I mean, I wasn't—" Seth fumbled.

"Wasn't what?"

"Well, that is, wasn't…."

Summer rolled her eyes and smiled.

She still had it. She still could make Seth Cohen shake under her demeanor.

"Kidding, Cohen, gosh," she giggled a little, "I knew you were just waiting for me to ask you. The way you kept stalling and walking slowly towards the door. You like hearing me need you."

Seth barked a laugh.

"What?! That is absolutely the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! I do not like hearing you need me!"

Summer gave Seth a pointed look.

"That's ridiculous! I just— Okay, so, maybe a little."

Summer's lips turned up. "Or maybe a lot," she teased as she raised one of her eyebrows.

"Okay, a lot," Seth agreed. "I can't help it. C'mon! It's such a turn on hearing a girl say she needs her man," he cracked a small grin, "I'm your knight, saving his damsel in distress!"

Summer fidgeted in Seth's arms. He felt it.

"What?" he asked, suddenly quiet again.

"You better turn it off. Nothing is going to happen."

Seth laughed.

"I'm serious. Nothing is going to happen," Summer repeated.

Seth thought maybe Summer really was being serious.

"Wait, in which way? Sex or us altogether?"

"Both."

Silence overcame the both of them.

Seth just had to break it.

"But wait. Wha-What about what happened today? I mean, before Michael Ann came in. That… kiss?"

Summer closed her eyes and sighed.

"That kiss, Cohen," Summer paused, "was a mistake. We shouldn't have done it."

She looked up at Seth. She couldn't really see him due to the lack of light, but she could see his outline. It didn't look too happy or confident.

Summer's insides cringed.

"I mean, it's nothing to the kiss. That was a good kiss. A really good kiss. I just, I don't think we should be doing anything right now. This is the first time I'm seeing you after what, twelve years? And! Did you see what happened to Mike? She flipped out! And she had every right. I…I don't think it's the right time to start anything up again. Not now… and you saw Michael Ann and me fight, right? Are you sure you're ready to take all this on? I'm pretty sure just having me was a pain, right?" She glanced up at him, a little gesture to make him smile.

Seth put his head down and looked the other way, avoiding Summer's eyes.

"Yeah… yeah, I guess," he whispered softly. "When do you think we'll 'start things back up, again?'"

"Couldn't say… Maybe after we get the things with Michael Ann straightened out first, you know?"

"Yeah…" he agreed, "Yeah. I can do that. Wait, I mean. I can wait," he smiled at her. "Besides, I want to know my daughter, I suppose," realization dawned on him. He knew nothing about his daughter. "I want to know what she's been doing for the last twelve years."

Life started to look a little better. Maybe his eyes were just now used to the dark, but it seemed to him that Summer brightened up a bit, too.

"Good. I want you to know her too," Summer replied. "She's so much like you. You'll love her."

Seth's dimples surfaced. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. I mean, come on, Cohen. I love her. And everything I love, you love, right?" Summer asked teasingly, a hint of amusement in her eyes.

Seth chuckled. "Right," he echoed, "I love everything you love."

Summer fell in deeper into Seth's body and snuggled in.

"Good…" she said softly.

"But why don't you love everything I love?" he suddenly questioned her.

"Er, because the things I love are… you know, love worthy. Your things, however, are, um, well, not."

Seth scoffed. "What? My things are so love worthy."

He felt Summer poke him on his side, probably meant as a pinch. It still hurt. He flinched a little and grabbed her hand.

"Nuh-uh," she whispered into the dark as she felt contact with his warm hand against hers.

"Yes-huh," he replied, just as quietly, and just as playfully.

"Uh, no?" she protested, nimbly moving her hands with his.

"Uh, yeah? I believe it is."

"Yeah?" she murmured, "well, you're wrong."

Their hands moved up from the couch's cushions onto Summer lap.

"No, I'm not. You're wrong."

Summer erupted into silent giggles. She moved her hand from his and slowly swished her fingertips against his wrist, light as a feather. Her hand moved up to his bicep, and to his shoulder, where she leaned her head in. Her lips almost made contact with his neck when—

SLAM!

Seth and Summer quickly pulled away from each other and jumped up from the couch.

Michael Ann silently crossed the room, turned on the lamp, and sat in the chair across from the couch. She crossed her arms and looked at both adults expectantly. When no one said anything, she sighed and broke the silence.

"Aren't you guys going to sit down?"

Seth and Summer looked at each other for a moment and sat back down on the couch. This time, obvious inches away from each other.

"So…" she began, "I thought about what you guys said. It's in my head now. Seth Cohen," she looked at the subject, "is my father. It was no wonder why his name sounded so familiar," she paused briefly, "I think we should start over."

Michael Ann turned her body to face Seth and presented her hand.

"Hi, Seth Cohen," she smiled easily, "I'm Michael Ann Roberts. It's nice to finally meet you."

Seth glanced at Summer before taking her hand and replying.

"Um… It's nice to meet you too?"

Michael Ann nodded her head and her smile turned into a lop-sided one.

"Okay… I guess that works. Right then," she turned to her mother, "What's going to happen?"

Summer returned to her a puzzled expression.

"What do you mean 'what's going to happen?'"

"I mean… I just met my dad," she glanced at Seth. "So, now, what do I do? Is he going to stay with us?"

She moved her body back into the center of the chair and faced both adults.

Questions rose everywhere in her, and she shot out the ones that hit her surface.

"What's going to happen in school? Will anything change? Will there be any arrangements? Will I finally get to meet my outside family like aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, nieces, nephews? Where is Seth from, anyway? How did you guys meet? What happened when you got pregnant?" she looked at Seth, "Did you leave mom?" back to both parents, "And most importantly," she took in a deep breath, "Are you two going to get together, again?"

Summer's eyes were wide as she bit down onto her lip, hard.

"I, uh, wow," she let out a nervous laugh, "So many questions. Um, I—"

Seth put a hand on Summers shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile.

"I got this, Sum," he said confidently. He looked back at Michael Ann, straight in the eyes. "I just met you too. And I have no idea what you do. Oh, gross. I rhymed," Michael Ann made a face, "I also have no idea what's going to happen in school. I don't think anything school related will change. We haven't discussed arrangements. You probably will get to meet your aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and if some, nieces and nephews. I'm from Newport, Orange County, just like your mother. We met in high school although I've know her since I was six. I didn't even know Summer was pregnant 'til today. I most certainly did not leave your mother. And no, we are not going to get together."

He said it all in the same breath and at the same speed as Michael Ann.

"Nice," Michael Ann commented with an impressed smile.

"Thank you. You were pretty good yourself."

Summer looked at the two of them and good heartedly rolled her eyes.

"Why not?" Michael Ann asked suddenly.

"Why not what?" Seth replied.

"Why aren't you two going get together? You both kissed. I saw it. And it was no light kiss. That there was a rated 'R,' maybe NG-17 kind of—"

Seth cut her off. "Yeah, I think we got it."

He looked over at Summer. She was the one who didn't want anything to happen yet. He figured she would have to be the one to explain it.

Summer accepted his unvoiced accusation and took Michael Ann's hands into hers.

"Mike, baby, your father and I aren't getting back together because it's all so fast and new. And you are just meeting and getting to know him. Besides, I don't want to get your hopes up or anything. See, Seth and I—" she stopped herself.

Michael Ann saw Seth's sudden mood change and her mother's guilty expression.

Huh?

"Well, you should have thought of that before you went and kissed him."

"There wasn't supposed to be a kiss in the first place."

Summer shot Seth a glare.

"You kissed me back."

"So? I didn't start it."

"Yeah, but you didn't end it either."

"Because you wouldn't let me!"

"Oh, right. It's because I didn't let you end a kiss that you hold half the responsibility of that it's my fault there was a kiss to begin with," he muttered sarcastically. "And anyway," he continued, just for the hell of it, "You liked it."

Summer shot him a sarcastic look.

"Liked what?"

"The kiss."

"No, I didn't. I hated it. It was a mistake. Look where it led us!"

"Liar."

"How so?"

"You loved it."

"No."

"Yes."

"Cohen, I said no."

"Summer, I said yes."

"Cohe—"

Michael Ann groaned and made a disgusted face.

"Will you guys please, for the love of God," she paused, "Shut up?!"

"And Moses," Seth added quietly.

Michael Ann gave him an annoyed look.

"What?"

"and Moses," Seth repeated.

Michael Ann stared at him for a split second and shook her head furiously.

"Again, what?"

"You said 'for the love of God.' I'm saying 'and Moses.' So that means 'for the love of God and Moses.'"

Michael Ann continued to stare at him.

Summer smiled a little.

"Oh yeah, Mike, I forgot to tell you… you're Jewish."

"I'm what?"

"Jewish," Seth chimed in.

"I'm Jewish," she echoed.

"Well, partly, right?" Summer looked at Seth.

"Yup, that's right. Oh wow, I didn't even really think of that. I mean, I did, but I didn't. She got some of my jewishness…" he let out a chuckle, "Boy, I can see it. The Nana is going to be so proud."

"Who's 'the Nana?'" Michael Ann asked.

"The Nana is my grandma. Your great grandmother… yup, she's going to be ecstatic to meet you."

"Yeah?" Michael Ann replied offhandedly, thinking about a grandmother. She only heard about them from other people and in books. It used to be that a grandmother was an elderly woman who made cookies and read children bed time stories. She remembered wanting one so bad when she was younger. Now she did. She had her own. "Yeah. I would love to meet her too."

Suddenly getting excited at the notion, she couldn't help but ask, "When will I get to meet my family, anyway?"

Summer thought for a bit.

"Uh, I don't know… Seth?" She turned to look at Seth.

He thought for a moment. Then a big grin flashed across his face.

"Christmukkah!" he announced. "It's almost here! She can meet them then!"

Summer's face lit up at his excitement. She laughed. "Yes! Excellent! Bonus points for you, Cohen."

"Christmukkah?" Michael Ann repeated in question.

She stared at her parents blankly.

"Yeah," Seth prodded enthusiastically, "You know… Christmas plus Hanukkah equals," he paused, "Christmukkah!"

Michael Ann raised an eyebrow. "Um, okay. I'm going to take a big guess and say there's a lot of things I don't know," she looked at both of her parents, "You're going to have to fill me in with all that I've missed."

Summer immediately looked at Seth.

"She's right. Cohen, I give you the honors."

Seth shot her a look. Summer only smiled sweetly.

Seth sighed and turned to Michael Ann.

"Well, where do we start?"

"Oh drop your act, Cohen. You know you want to tell her everything," Summer shot in teasingly.

"Ignore her," Seth whispered, "So, again, where do you want to start?"

Michael Ann pondered this for a second. "Let's start at… am I a Cohen?"

Seth looked at Summer for her answer. She nodded. He looked back at Michael Ann.

"You most definitely are. Even if your records don't say it, you have Cohen written all over you."

Michael turned to her mom.

"Is that a good thing?" she whispered, loud enough for Seth to hear it.

Seth held his hands to his heart in mock hurt.

Summer smiled.

It was going to be a long, long, night.

* * *

**A/N**: AHH! I'm so sorry, this was definitely the worst! And I'm not being hard on myself! It was hard for me to write this chapter because I didn't want the reactions to be overly dramatic. I wanted Michael Ann to be cool about it. Also, I wanted Seth and Summer to flirt, make them see no matter what, no matter how long they have been apart, they will always be comfortable with each other and go into habits, you know? I have certain things in my head going on, it's going to be great:D so stick with me, please! I will have the next chapter up shortly. R&R! 


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**: blah, I'm so sorry for the VERY VERY LONG wait! As I said before, my brother came home, and so we have to share the stupid computer (He came back with none)! So, I haven't been able to be on as much as I like and every time I am on it's for my email. Also, school started up again! Araggh! Still though, I'm trying my best to update:D Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I've decided not to continue with Seth explaining everything to Michael Ann because that would just be repeats, I wanted to move on. Also, you'll notice, Michael Ann and Seth get along, but she hasn't really accepted him as her father. Well, that's all! I hope you enjoy this!

_It was going to be a long, long, night._

"So, um… I, uh, loved… what you said in History class the other day," Jeremy Boles whispered in a nervous voice. "It was… thoughtful, you know?"

Michael Ann blushed.

"And way smarter than what most girls think of," Jeremy paused, his face growing red, "and um, well… I dig smart chicks."

Michael Ann let out a little giggled and opened her mouth to say something. However, Jeremy continued.

"And… um, well, I just thought I'd—"

He leaned over towards Michael Ann. It was like slow motion. She watched every millisecond, every single time interval of his movement. He leaned in, hesitated, thought, retaliated, and then got in closer.

She sucked in her breath and closed her eyes, anxious to feel him touch her.

BRIIIIIIIIING. There goes that annoying bell again.

Michael Ann's head jerked out of her palm and was broken away from her daydream. She turned her head towards the subject she was thinking of and blushed instantly. She could only see his head, but his hair looked really nice. She saw he was turning around and she quickly looked ahead to see Seth chatting away in a hurried manner.

"Okay?" Seth said to the class, "So! What I want you guys to do tonight is read chapters three and four for homework. Be prepared and sharp for a potential quiz tomorrow! Class dismissed!"

The students began to file out.

"And don't forget to eat cereal!" Seth yelled at the passing kids who where urging to get out of the door. He said it as a joke, of course.

Michael Ann waited after the kids to pass her. She saw Jeremy walking and took her chance to be near him, even if it's just for a little bit.

"Michael Ann? Can I see you for a second?"

Michael Ann spun around, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. Does Seth know?

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah sure…" she saw her friend gesturing wildly towards her by the door. "Hey Nat," she said, turning towards her friend, "meet me at lunch, 'kay?"

Natalie narrowed her eyes and sighed loudly. She nodded and walked off, but not before giggling at and waving at Seth.

Michael Ann walked over to Seth's desk, and tried to seem cool. He didn't know anything.

"What's up?"

Seth cleared his throat.

"I, um, just wanted to know if your mom told you about—"

Oh. So that's what he wanted to talking about. Michael Ann smiled; the ball was back in her court.

"Your 'date?'" she interrupted with air quotes. She smirked. "Yeah, she told me."

Seth opened his mouth in protest.

"No!" he said quickly, "not date, per say. Just… a meeting, if you will. Or… you know, something along those lines," Seth made a disgusted face. That was the best he could do?

"A meeting," Michael Ann repeated.

"Yup."

"Um, okay. And, er, what will this 'meeting' be about?"

"Well you know," Seth stated as if it was obvious.

Michael Ann gave him a blank look.

"Okay, well, I don't really know myself. But I'm pretty sure it's about you? Yeah. Arrangements and stuff…"

Michael Ann raised an eyebrow.

"Um, okay, well… have fun?"

Why did Seth need to talk to her about this?

He noticed her impatience and saw her sneak a peek at the door.

"Sorry to keep you back, but um, uh, so… what are you going to do? Stay home? Or…?"

"I'm not sure, yet," Michael Ann replied. "Probably not. Maybe I'll hang out with Nat. I think she's coming over. See, we have an important soccer game tomorrow. And it's mom's turn to take us and be our supporter."

"Oh, that's right. You're in soccer," he thought of the first day they met. "What time do the games usually start?"

"Hm, not sure. Normally we have games around four in the afternoon, sometimes earlier. But since tomorrow is Saturday, I think—"

"Oh wow. Is it Friday already?" Seth suddenly interrupted, "I need to pick some groceries up," he muttered.

Michael Ann shot him a sarcastic look.

Seth realized he interrupted and quickly apologized.

She laughed a little. "It's alright. Just, have her home by twelve, 'kay?"

This time Seth laughed, "I promise," he said.

Michael Ann returned his smile.

"Good. Because if you don't, then I'll know," she said, narrowing her eyes and sending him a mysterious look.

Seth raised an eyebrow in oblivion. "What?"

"You know what I'm talking about," she replied with a smirk.

Seth just stared at her.

Michael Ann sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Sex, you idiot."

Seth's expression became alarmed. "Uh, no!" he defended. "Where did you learn that from?!"

How does she know about sex? What has Summer been teaching their child?

Michael Ann gave him a half smile in return.

"Seth," she said, "you're going to have to learn that by now, everyone my age knows about sex. In fact, I think half the seventh grade population has had sex already."

Seth's eyes widened and he grimaced. He began to say something but thought better of it.

"Nothing is going to happen," he affirmed while he gagged. "And I have no idea why I'm discussing this with you. Doesn't it gross you out?" he paused for a moment, "You know what? Never mind. Don't answer that. I don't want to know. Anyway, this is not a date, just a—"

"Meeting," Michael Ann finished, "Right. Gotcha."

With that, Michael Ann turned around and sped out of class before Seth could say anything else.

He stared at the empty spot that was just recently vacated by his twelve year old daughter.

She was something.

* * *

"Summer, my darling," Seth greeted once he opened his apartment door, "what a pleasant surprise!"

Summer rolled her eyes and smiled as he pulled her in and ushered her into the living room. He helped her with her jacket and hung it onto a nearby coat rack.

"Cohen," Summer said in acknowledgement. She began looking around his apartment, getting a quick overview. It was quite small, and a little dim. She saw a living room, kitchen, and three other doors; probably two rooms and the bathroom.

"I'm making tea right now," Seth said, interrupting Summer's thoughts. "Basically because I have nothing else… I forgot to go grocery shopping… So why don't you have a seat on the couch or something?"

"Nah," she replied, "I'll help you."

Summer followed Seth into the kitchen and drew a chair away from the table.

"Nice place you got here," she commented.

Seth slightly smiled. "Thanks," he replied, applying water into the pot.

The sound of the faucet drained the silence — for now.

"So," Summer said once she saw Seth put the pot onto the stove, "where's the crappy band posters and comic books?"

She gave him a teasing smile.

Seth scoffed. "What makes you think I don't have them?"

Summer dropped her smile. "You're kidding, right?"

This time Seth smiled. More of a smirk, actually. He tapped his chin mysteriously and moved in closer towards Summer. "Why don't you follow me and find out?"

Summer took in a sharp breath by his closeness and accepted his challenge.

She let Seth lead her by the hand and into one of the doors she saw earlier — his bedroom.

He paused when he reached for the knob and gave Summer an excited look. When he opened up his room, Summer found what she was expecting—no, wait, wait, scratch that— not expecting to see. His room was completely normal. He had one bookshelf in there filled with books. Real books; novels. His room was colored coded with a tropical teal and a dark shade of green. Basically, brown and green was the trend. He had a television and a dresser. All pretty normal.

Summer looked at Seth and smiled. She was impressed.

"Not what I was suspecting, Cohen."

"I'm full of surprises," he replied, raising his eyebrows in a suggestive manner. "But," he continued, his voice getting smaller, "don't underestimate me."

Summer gave him a perplexed look and he grabbed her hand again.

Bzzpt.

This time, leading her towards the other bedroom. The guestroom?

When he opened it, she laughed.

"I should have guessed," she said dryly.

"Yeah, you should have."

In the guestroom there was a bed, a nightstand, and another television. However, connected to the said television was what appeared to be a game console. Next to that, there was a case full of many different games. Band posters, Japanese posters, and movie posters were plastered all over the walls. And to top it all off, there were two huge bookshelves in there devoted to numerous amounts of comic books.

"C'mon, Summer," Seth reasoned, "It's me. You'd have to expect it."

Summer rolled her eyes good-naturedly and nodded her head in agreement.

"I guess I should have. And! You know, I did earlier!"

"Yeah, but you doubted yourself."

"Still doesn't mean I didn't think of it."

Seth chuckled and grabbed her hand again.

It tingled.

"Let's go into the kitchen," he suggested, leading her out of the guestroom.

He untangled his hands from her as he pulled out a chair for her, adjacent to the one she was sitting in earlier.

There was a moment of silence.

Seth, being one to hate silences, broke it.

"Okay, so," he looked straight at her, "shall we begin… talking?" he finished lamely.

Summer smiled, "sure."

She didn't really want to talk now. She was busy thinking about what just happened. There was the constant grabbing of the hand, and how it felt. She shivered. And then the totally unsuspecting and yet, suspecting room thing.

"It's me. You'd have to expect it," echoed through her mind.

She missed him and his crazy antics.

A long silence loomed over the two as she was lost in thought.

Seth cleared his throat. "What? You want me to start?" He asked after she didn't continue from her 'sure.'

Summer smirked slightly.

"That was my intention."

Seth thought for a second and nodded his head.

"Make sense."

Another minute of silence passed.

This time it was Summer to break it, since she was paying attention.

"Alright, then. Let's officially begin; knowing now that you will start it."

Seth nodded.

"Okay, I'll begin. So," he said, pausing dramatically, "what is the plan?"

Summer thought for a moment.

"For Michael Ann, right?"

Seth raised an eyebrow.

"Um, yeah. Who else is there?" he asked curiously.

Not being able to control herself, she brought up the subject both adults wanted to avoid.

"Well," she paused, "us?" she replied in a small voice.

"Us," Seth repeated firmly. Summer broke the unwritten rule. Fix it! Fix it! "How about we begin with Michael Ann?" he quickly amended.

Phew.

"Okay. Michael Ann."

Summer and Seth began to think of a plan.

Where should she go to every day? Who should she stay with? How should they do this?

"How about I have her for the weekends and you can have her on the weekdays," Summer suggested.

"What? But I'm working on the weekdays!" Seth protested.

"Yeah, I know," Summer replied, thinking hard, "me too. But you get to see her everyday at school anyways, so I figured maybe you can just… take her here, you know? Like, right after school. Can't you?"

Seth considered this. "I guess I could, but what if I want to spend a whole entire day with her? I can't on a weekend because then she'll be with you."

"Okay, fine. Different plan… Uh…"

Summer bit her lip and concentrated.

Seth, on the other hand, watched her openly and admiringly.

'God, she's beautiful.'

He loved how she looked when she thought real hard. And he especially loved it when she came up with 'the best plans ever.'

Suddenly a light shined through her, and her face lit up. She looked up at Seth who turned away.

She already knew he was watching her, but she didn't say anything.

"I got an idea!"

Seth looked at her.

"How about you have her over next week, and then I have her over the next week after that. Then she goes back to you for a week, and once she gets the feel of that, she can decide what she wants to do. You know, like, have options. How does that sound?" she finished eagerly.

Seth broke into a smile. She was brilliant, like always.

"Sounds perfect. "

Summer beamed.

"And," she added, "to make things easier, you and I should still interact, you know? Keep in contact — whether it's meetings like these or even simple phone calls. So it's not weird with you, me, and Michael Ann, you know?"

"Yeah," Seth said, nodding his head, "that makes sense. Oh! And how about we—"

He was cut off by a sudden burst of energy that erupted from the stove. The pot was screaming for Seth to turn the heat off.

"I'll go get that," he quickly said and went over to the stove.

Summer waited quietly as she watched Seth place the tea bags into two coffee cups. She mused as he added hot water and giggled when he flinched from his clumsiness. He accidentally spilled some water on himself. Same ol' Cohen, she thought. Then she frowned. I should probably go soon, before something happens.

She thought of the sparks.

"Here you go," Seth said, interrupting her thoughts. He placed a cup in front of Summer, and she lazily watched steam swirl up into the air and disappear.

After a moment or so, and a couple of background sips here and there, Seth put his cup down.

"You okay?" he asked with concern in his voice.

Summer was silent, playing with the brim of her cup.

"Huh?" she asked, returning from her lost concentration. "Oh, uh, yeah."

She gave him a firm, tightlipped smile.

Reassuring? Yeah, right.

Not satisfied with her answer, Seth lifted his cup up and brought it to the middle.

"Nothing better than a nice cup of tea, eh?" he asked with a big cheesy smile, trying so desperately to break the silence.

Summer gave him half a smile at his attempt. "Sure," she replied.

Seth nodded his head. At least she was responding.

Why the sudden mood change, though.

He looked back up at Summer, who looked deep into thought.

Remember how Seth feels when he sees Summer is thinking hard.

He smiled.

A couple of minutes passed and Seth let out a huge sigh. He looked over at the clock.

It was only seven, and already, it seemed like an eternity.

* * *

After Summer finished off her tea, Seth quickly picked her cup up from her before she even got to lick her lips. He needed something to do.

He took the two cups to the sink and lay them there.

He stared at them, and collected himself. He had to be ready to endure a couple of more hours of silence.

As he turned around, he was surprised to see Summer right in front of him, mere inches away. He sucked in a deep breath.

"I've… been considering this for long time," he heard her started slowly. He wasn't sure, his mind wasn't really working. "I don't know what's wrong with me… I can't explain it," he thought she said, "I just…"

And then, she kissed him.

Seth felt her lips collide with his and before his brain could realize what was happening, his body was already responding back. Body over brain. Smart.

He deepened the kiss and put his free arm around Summer, as his other arm was glued to the sink (he was tense, after all). She responded positively, touching him in places he made him tingle. He moved his hand into her hair, and ran his fingers against the side. Nothing felt real to him except that she was melting into him, falling.

When they finally broke apart, the two were out of breath.

"Seriously," Summer said in between breathes, "considering," breath, "is," huff, "this," puff, "a mistake? I— "

Seth didn't let her finish. He didn't want her to finish.

He kissed her again, this time more urgently. As the time went by, the kisses became more reckless. As if he didn't care what they were doing, except that they were doing it together. Seth took his gripping hand off the sink and onto Summer's waist. He began to move from her lips down to her neck.

He pulled away just long enough to look into her eyes and breathe, "Baby, we're humans. We were born to make mistakes."

That was all it took for Summer to jump onto Seth and wrap her legs around his waist.

So that's why they call them pick up lines.

Seth took initiative and moved from the sink to the wall of the refrigerator. Her back hit against the door with a jerk, emphasizing that he was being rough.

Summer pulled away from his face and gave him her sexiest smile.

"Wow Cohen," she breathed, "taking charge? I like it."

Seth returned her stare and grinned.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she confirmed. "It's so hot that, it's, it's—"

She never got to finish her sentence as Seth kissed her again. Her response jerked him backwards and he was banged against the table. He turned around and propped her up on said object. Crossed her legs and watched as Seth began unbuckling his belt.

He did it quickly and in a swift movement.

Maybe he's had a lot of practice. Who knows?

He climbed on top of her, tugged at her blouse, and starting kissing her again.

* * *

**A/N**: And THAT was the thing you have been waiting for. It sucked, I know. But that was all I could do. I'll update with the next chapter tomorrow. **ENJOY**!


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**: Hmm, I hope you all enjoyed it:D I seriously can't wait to keep updating, but like I said, I can't get on that much. ARAGH:O but the main reason I want to update is for your feedback:D hahaha. Okay so, I'll try and update more often. Here you go, enjoy!

_He climbed on top of her, tugged at her blouse, and starting kissing her again._

Seth kissed her again.

It was a long, meaningful kiss full of … happy.

It was eleven at night, and he and Summer were recovering from multiple work outs, and a few breathtaking, pleasurable orgasms.

At the moment he was still on top of her, refusing to get off. He stared at her, pinpointed the emotion her eyes were giving off, and smiled.

Summer giggled under his gaze.

"Something has made you happy. See something you like, Cohen?"

Her eyes twinkled with mirth.

"God, yes," he whispered. He dipped his head into the crook of her neck and kissed it.

"Hm, well, you aren't too bad yourself," Summer murmured. "And seriously, Cohen, nice moves. I've never experienced that before."

Seth laughed against her skin.

She shivered at the tidal waves.

"Well, you know me. I do what I can."

He slowly began to move down, and progressed to her collarbone. The heat she was giving off felt comfortable against him, and he went down lower, his left hand moving up her right arm.

"Cohen," Summer whispered for his attention.

He looked up.

"So," she started with a slight hint of teasing, "you going to get off of me or what?"

"Hm," Seth mock pondered, "I don't know."

He kissed Summer's neck again.

"I kind of like being on top of you," he replied.

Summer bit back a smile and pulled Seth's face to hers. He looked like a puppy.

"You're hard to satisfy, huh?"

Seth looked away and laughed.

"Well, it's not that I'm hard to satisfy. More like," he looked back up at her, "I want more."

Summer threw her head back and laughed.

"Ugh," she said, returning, "you men are so spoiled."

She let out a sarcastic sigh.

"Well, I guess I'll play the mom then."

Seth's body lifted from Summer's a couple of millimeters as he shot her a disgusted look.

"Uh…" he trailed off.

Summer realized what she had just said.

"Oh! No! Not like — I mean, well, not your mom," she giggled, "more as that friend's mom who is really hot, you know? Everyone has one. I meant that kind of mom."

Seth looked a little relieved.

"Anyway," Summer continued, "I'll play her. 'Seth, no.' See? Like that. As you know, It's the mom's duty to tell her child 'no' so he won't get spoiled," she gave him a knowing look, "I say 'no,' Cohen."

Seth pouted and gave her his most innocent look.

Summer burst into laughter.

"Cohen! I'm being serious! No is no. You will not charm your way back into my pants, got it?"

This time Seth laughed.

"I think you're a little too late on that, Summer."

But of course, he obeyed her. Seth lifted himself off of the petite woman and moved to her side. They lay there, in a semi-awkward fashion until Summer moved in towards his open arm.

Summer turned to face him and he followed suit.

"So," they both said at the same time.

They laughed.

It was one of those clichéd, awkward moments.

"You go first," Seth said, always the gentlemen.

"I've got nothing," Summer admitted.

"Me, too," Seth replied.

They shared a moment, marveling in complete comfortable silence.

"Cohen," Summer whispered.

"Mm?"

She leaned in close that he inhaled her delicious vanilla scent.

She craned her neck and placed a soft kiss onto Seth's lips.

It lingered when she pulled away.

She brought her head in against Seth's chest and closed her eyes, snuggling closer.

"Goodnight," she said quietly.

Seth felt a little disappointed, but she was tired.

He kissed her on the top of her head and leaned in.

"Goodnight," he repeated.

She never heard it as she was already sleeping, a blissful smile plastered across her face.

Only one of them drifted off to a happy sleep. The other, however, relived everything.

* * *

"Cohen?"

A soft rumble replied.

This time it was a little louder. "Cohen?"

No answer.

"Cohen!" Summer said loudly into the quiet air.

"Wha—?" Seth automatically responded as his head popped off his pillow.

Summer just stared at him and his state.

His hair was everywhere, and he looked alarmed, but sleepy at the same time.

She giggled at the oxymoron.

Because she didn't say anything, slowly, Seth leaned back into his pillow.

Summer rolled her eyes. "Cohen!" she said again.

Seth turned to his sighed a mumbled an angry reply.

Summer huffed and shoved at him.

He opened one eye and looked past her at the clock, then back at Summer.

She looked at him expectantly.

"Summer," he complained, "it's two in the morning," he half whined, half mumbled.

"Yeah, I know!" she exclaimed. "Get up! I mean, don't get up. Wake up! Let's talk!"

Seth closed his eyes again and mumbled something incoherent, but you could hear the whine.

This time Summer hit him on the arm.

"Ow! Summer!" He opened his eyes and sat up, rubbing his 'injured' arm furiously. "That hurt," he stated, shooting her a glare.

She returned it. "I'm bored!"

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"Make me fall asleep, again. Please?" Summer asked. And to make it more effective, she shot him his favorite smile.

He was still cranky to accept it fully. So he faked a scoff.

"Oh, so now I make you fall asleep? What am I, boring?"

Summer gave him a mocked innocent look. "Of course not, Cohen. No you. Why would I want to talk to someone who is boring if I'm already in a bored state?"

"Yeah, yeah. You're very witty."

"Thank you," she quipped.

"Uh huh. So anyway," he said, sending her a suggestive side glance, "now that I'm up, you want to…" he wiggled his eyebrows.

Summer instinctively smacked him on the head.

"There's more to life than sex, you know!"

Seth winced and groaned. "Sheesh woman!" he exclaimed, "I'm going to have so many bruises because of you," he watched her roll her eyes, "and I know there's more to life than sex," he said with his hands up in defense. "It's just… sex with you is the most of life."

"So you're saying all you see me as is someone to have sex with you all your life? Oh wow. Thanks."

Seth's eyes widened. "No, Summer!" he said quickly, "you know I didn't mean it like that. I meant—"

He heard Summer giggled.

Seth sighed.

"I know what you meant," Summer replied, "but how about we recover for now and have longer repeat performance?" she suggested.

Seth's face lit up.

"I just want to talk for now. I mean, I'm restless! I want to sleep, but I can't."

Seth nodded his head in acknowledgment.

"Okay, Summer," he began, "what do you want to talk about?"

She thought for a moment.

"Hm, I don't know."

She then promptly moved in on Seth, placing her arm on his chest and snuggling closer to him.

"I kind of like listening to your heartbeat. It's like a lullaby," she murmured.

The two just stayed like that for a while, listening to the different noises around them.

Beat. Beat. Beat.

"You know I'd do anything for you, right?" Seth said suddenly, breaking the silence.

Summer didn't move, but continued to lie there, against Seth's beating chest.

Moments passed, and she still didn't say anything.

She felt his heartbeat speedup, and noticed that he was getting nervous.

After a while, Summer nodded her head.

She felt his body relax, and felt his relief.

"I'm sleepy, Cohen," she yawned, "like, really tired now."

Summer looked up at Seth. She couldn't see him, but she could see his outline. His wacky hair.

She smiled.

"Thanks you," she said quietly.

Seth kissed her forehead in return.

"Night, Summer."

Summer said nothing. She instead just closed her eyes and tucked her head deeper into Seth's hold.

After a very long period of time, when Seth could hear the steady breathing of Summer, he came to believe she was finally sleeping.

"I love you," he mouthed into the night air. "I love you," he mouthed again.

Then, "I love you," he said very lowly. He hardly could hear it. He looked over at Summer. She looked the same a moment before.

The susurration exhilarated him, like a can of soda — just as fast as the energy came, the exhaustion settled in. But before he finally drifted off to sleep he gave out one more try.

"I love you," he whispered. He did it so softly that it was almost inaudible.

And she heard it.

* * *

A/N: I know it's short. I just wanted to give you some "Sethummer moments" till the "thing (muahaha, I'm not telling you" happens. HAHA. Anyway, about those SS moments, it's nothing major. I mean, I didn't go into great detail. To be frank, I dislike TOO much detail, but enough to actually be like, "Awwwww! That is so cute!" Haha. Yeah, that's basically it. Anyway, this chapter was pretty much a breather. I already started the next. I'll update soon! Enjoy!

Next:

-Summer makes a decision.

-Michael Ann notices her mom hasn't call yet, "ew."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**: I should be in school. But I'm not. Haha, obviously. I'm sick! NOT THE GREATEST FEELING. BUT! I slept till, well, now (it's 3:03 PM now) and I'm restless. Still feeling like crap, but inspired:D I get some pretty awesome reviews, and I'll tell you now, it makes me want to update faster! It makes my sickness feel better too. I really love all of your feedback! Special thanks to **kalexgurl**! Your review (and those like it) make me want to give you (all) a new chapter. I'm also glad you liked my ending of the 6th chapter. I wanted to show you Seth is still so in love with the 'goddess'. Anyway, Don't hate me for this chapter. It HAS to happen, to make the story more interesting! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: I WANT ADAM BRODY:(

"_I love you." he whispered ever so softly that it was almost inaudible._

_And she heard it._

Seth Cohen woke up with a big, huge, goofy smile on his face. He couldn't help it. He felt around the bed, looking for a very beautiful, and a very naked young lady. After he realized no one was there, he finally decided to open his eyes.

Yup. No one there.

Seth got up, pulled some boxers on, and went into the living room, searching for the said young lady. It was chilly in the room, the windows were open and he wasn't wearing a shirt. Brr. And then he saw her. Sitting there, legs crossed, on his chair with a cup of coffee, very deep into thought. She was even more beautiful than Seth was imagining earlier. Her natural wavy hair hung loose on her shoulders. She was wearing Seth's robe and looked very small in it as it covered her body. She looked so snug, and that fact made Seth smile.

"Now don't be thinking too hard, sugar." Seth finally said, making Summer break away from her daze.

She just looked at him in acknowledgement and went back to thinking.

Seth's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "uhh, you okay there?" he asked nervously.

Summer said nothing, just twirling her once hot coffee with her finger. She seemed to be pouting.

Seth moved from where he was standing over to her, placing his arm around her waist. He noticed her body tense up, but ignored it. He just sat there, watching Summer think. He had no idea Summer knew he told her he loved her. She also knew he didn't know she knew. Basically, the two just sat on the couch in silence, wondering what the other was thinking.

"You do know we have a kid, right?" Summer asked out of the blue. She turned to Seth and looked him right in his eyes.

"yeah.." Seth replied cautiously. "Why?"

Summer looked down to the floor, unable to look at him. "Well, I think what happened last night was.." she trailed off.

"A mistake." Seth said flatly.

"NO! Well, yes, but at the same time no. You know? I mean, it was amazing, seriously," Summer looked back up at Seth. She could see how hurt he looked. "It made me realize I'm not over you. I probably should already have known that, but I wanted to feign ignorance. You know me, Summer Roberts, girl who ignores the realities." Seth's eyes still bore into hers. Waiting for her to go on. "Though last night was…" she was looking for a better word than amazing. "magnificent… it was still a mistake." she finished slowly.

Seth just eyed her for a while before he finally spoke. "Why was it a mistake, Summer?" he asked in a whisper.

Summer felt her heart drop. He sounded like a lost puppy asking why his owners didn't want him anymore. Carefully, Summer reached over the coffee table to where the answering machine was and clicked 'play'.

"Friday, November 28, 10:30 PM" said the 'robot' voice. A very familiar voice came on. "Hello…? Hello? Anyone there…? Pick up, please! Okay, fine, you're gunna ignore the phone? Then I'll talk. Mom, if you're there, I called your cell phone before I realized you left an 'in case of emergency' number with me… so I'm guessing it's Seth's phone number? Where are you? Are you two…. No wait, ew. I mean. Ugh. WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU! MOM! Me and Natalie have a Soccer game tomorrow, remember? You're gunna pick us up, right? Because Natalie's mom and dad are going out of town. Please tell me you remember! Oh, and hi Seth. Anyway, call me when you get this message. Bye mom, love you!" The answering machine went click.

Seth realized something. "Sum—"

"—Wait," she cut him off. "There's more."

"Saturday, November 29, 6:15 AM" The same voice from before came on again. "Hello! MOM? YOU THERE? PICK UP! OR PICK UP YOUR CELL PHONE! Me and Nat are almost ready, you'll be here soon, right? Ugh, don't be late!" Click.

Seth looked at the clock. 12:47 PM. He opened his mouth to say something. Summer put her finger to her lips and pointed at the machine.

"Saturday, November 29, 7:25 AM" Michael Ann appeared on the phone the third time. "MOM! WHERE ARE YOU! THE SOCCER GAME STARTS IN 45 MINUTES! PLEASE TELL ME YOU ARE ON YOUR WAY! BYE!"

"Just one more.." Summer whispered to Seth.

"Saturday, November 29, 8:30 AM" This same voice from the last three messages came on, only this time it sounded bored and annoyed. "Hello mom. Seth. It's your daughter, Michael Ann. Remember me? Great. So, uh, mom, what's up with your cell phone? I called it so many different times, more than I called Seth's answering machine. It keeps going to voice mail. Did you turn it off? Well, me and Nat got a call from the coach, we've been suspended for 10 games. That's like, ALL THE GAMES. So, yeah, no more soccer. It's okay though, you won't have to take me to soccer practice anymore. Happy?" There was a moment of silence. "Are you ignoring me now?" you could hear some emotion in Michael Ann's voice. "Because some guy you once knew came back? I mean, I know he was part of 'the making of Michael Ann', but only by his damn sperm. I don't even know the guy, I mean, I know him. But I don't KNOW him, not really anyway." Michael Ann sighed. Her voice finally cracking. "Are you replacing me? Am I not a good daughter? Mom, I know these questions may sound stupid or crazy, but it's how you're making me feel. Mom I-" Beep. The machine cut her off. That was the last message Michael Ann left.

The two adults sat quietly on the couch. Just thinking of the last message Michael Ann left.

Seth realized why Summer thought it was a mistake. He slowly looked from the machine back to Summer. She had tears in her eyes, but she wasn't crying.

Summer looked up at Seth and saw he was staring at her. She closed her eyes and the tears finally came down. What was going to happen?

Seth couldn't stand seeing her cry. He cupped Summer's face and wiped the tears away. "What are you thinking Summer? Tell me what you're thinking, please?" he whispered to her.

"I think," she started in a hoarse voice, then cleared her throat and said a little more loudly, "I think we shouldn't be in a relationship right now." She said it sternly, as if she was not only telling Seth, but commanding herself as well.

Seth's face fell. "What? But Summer, I—" he began but was cut off by Summer.

"No, Cohen! Didn't you hear Michael Ann? She's right! I have a daughter, I have to take care of her first! I mean, I made her feel as if I didn't care for her anymore! When my mother left me, that was how I felt, and it hurts me that I'm making her feel the same way. I hated it, Cohen. I seriously hated it. I just… HATED IT!" she yelled, more tears were coming down. She began to weep, not sobbing, but just crying.

Seth held her. "Let it all out, honey" he said to her. He understood what Summer meant. He felt the same way, Michael Ann was his daughter too. He wouldn't tell Summer, but he disliked the fact Michael Ann didn't exactly see him as her father. More of a friend, maybe.

While in thought, Summer finally pulled her head away from Seth. "You better?" he asked softly.

Summer sniffed. "yeah.." she replied.

Seth nodded his head and stared out the window that was open.

"Cohen, I'm sorry.." Summer said after a while. "It just doesn't seem right, at the moment, I mean."

Seth looked back at Summer. "Summer," he began slowly. "I understand what you mean… but.. You can still take care of Michael Ann and be with me, can't you? I mean, we can take care of Mike together."

Summer stared at Seth, thinking of what say, or how to say what she was feeling. "Cohen.." she trailed off.

Seth went back in. "Summer, I've missed you. You know that. I'll admit, I've been angry with for the last 12 years, but it was all a misunderstanding. Not only that, after 12 years I'm still crazy about you. Doesn't that mean anything?" he asked her.

Summer pursed her lips before replying. "I know what you mean, Cohen. I feel the same way, but.."

Seth's eyes were piercing hers. 'Do you love me?' he asked silently. Hope the message would send through to her.

She didn't receive it. "but it's just… here's what I'm thinking." she paused and took a deep breath. "I just think before I can really be a girlfriend, I need to be a mother first. And you need to be a father first. Get to know her, you know?" she said.

Seth didn't respond and looked away back at the window. After a couple of minutes of silence, Seth nodded his head. "Yeah… Okay… I guess you're right… I need to be her father first." he repeated.

"Right." Summer replied.

Seth looked back at Summer. "So, then… we're sort of taking a break?" he asked.

Summer looked down. "Yeah.. I guess. I don't want to but.."

'Then don't' Seth said silently to himself.

"we have to. I think it's the best for now… we'll see what happens. I don't want my daughter disliking me.. Or you for that matter. I don't want two strangers. So, yeah, a break." Summer finished.

"Yeah.." Seth said softly.

The silence was awkward, too awkward for Seth and Summer. Summer decided to break it. "Well, I'm going to go." she said pointing to the door. "I need to find Michael Ann and brace myself for some yelling, crying, making up. You know?"

Seth smiled.

"The girl way." Summer added with a glare, knowing very well why Seth was smiling.

Seth put his hands up in defense. "Hey, I'm not thinking of that… okay well, I AM, but not with your daughter. THAT is just… 'ew'." he said using one of Summer's favorite words. He didn't know if she still used it as much or not.

Summer rolled her eyes and smiled. "So.. Are we good?" she asked him.

Seth again, for the 100th time that day, nodded his. "we're good." he replied.

"Good" Summer said with a smile. "Goodbye, Cohen.." and turned to leave.

"Wait, Summer!" Seth yelled before she left.

Summer turned around. "Yeah, Cohen?"

Seth took in a deep breath. "If we're gunna do this whole…. 'break up' thing" he said with air quotes. "Can you please not call me 'Cohen' for now?"

Summer's face fell and slightly teared up. "Oh.." sniff. "okay, I'm sorry, I just.." she looked down, feeling rejected.

Seth saw this and quickly added "Not that I don't like it, it's just…. It makes things harder, and… I don't even know how I'm gunna go through with it anyway.." he finished.

Summer looked back up at Seth with a sad smile. "You'll go through with it.. Just remember, if you do go through with it… I'll be there at the end, besides, I have to do the same thing."

Seth chuckled. "That's probably the most 'go through with it' that was exchanged between two people…. So, okay, uhm.. Bye then… oh wait!" he said again and she turned around again. "You're still wearing my robe… But if you want to keep it, you can. You do look good in it.." he said with a smile.

Summer blushed slightly. "I forgot.. Sorry.." and went into Seth's bedroom to get her clothes. She came out of the room after a couple of minutes. "Thank you for reminding me, that would have been embarrassing."

Seth laughed. "yeah, it would have. If I hated you, I wouldn't had said anything."

Summer laughed with him. "Oh, then, because you DID say something, you must looooove me." she joked.

Seth blinked twice. Ouch. Still too raw for that.

Awkward silence loomed over the two. "uhh, I'm sorry.." Summer said softly.

"It's okay… really. You've got nothing to apologize for.. I mean, it was just a joke, right?" Seth asked, hoping it was.

"Right." Summer stated.

Again, the silence came. They just stared at each other, not wanting to leave.

"Summer?" Seth finally said.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want me to come with you to find Michael Ann? I mean, she'll be angry, so I can help defend your honor." he answered with a slight smiled on his face.

Summer shook her head. "no, it's okay. Knowing Michael Ann, she'll blame someone, I mean she IS a Cohen." she looked at Seth for the full effect.

Seth mocked scoffed. "You're saying I blame everyone?"

"you know it." She replied.

"Yeah? Well…" he started thinking of a comeback. "…you're right. So ha! Beat that."

Summer raised an eyebrow. "Why should I? I already won. Don't try your reverse psychology crap on me."

Seth chuckled, then sighed. "You know me too well, Miss Roberts."

"I do, don't I?" she replied with a giggle. "Well, I'm gunna go now. For real this time…" she paused for a second. "so bye……Seth." she shot him a dazzling smile and walked out of the door.

"Goodbye Summer." he quietly said to himself.

The door slammed shut, and Seth just stood there.

* * *

**A/N**:A lot of silence in this chapter. In my head, it's early in the morning, so a sort of blue-ish hue on them. It's cold, too. The silence seems to go with them. :) okay, the chapter seems said, but really, It's not! You have to see the other chapters, it gets better! Also! If you didn't notice, the answering machine says, "November 29" which means it's closed to December, which means: dundundun! **CHRISTMUKKAH**! You'll be meeting the other characters shortly. NOT in the next chapter, but…. Hmm, you'll see :)Also,I think my writing in this one was very repetitive. Is it just me? I think I'm losing my touch :O Oy, nevermind that though. Now I'm thinking: the more reviews, the faster the update? Nah, I'm nice! I'll update whenever I finish a chapter. I'm not desperate… but I do enjoy the reviews.. **A LOT**... (hinthint..hahah) R&R!

Juliaaah.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N**: Okay! New chapter:D I loved your reviews! I'm going to explain some stuff about the last chapter. Michael Ann was feeling a little left out. I know when I used to feel like that I immediately wanted to break the other two apart:O HA. Not that I do it or anything… :) Er, oh yeah! Not much drama in there because Summer wants to be with Seth but can't until she has done her mother duties:D Super mom, baby! And… ummm…. Well, you'll find out more in this chapter:D I had loads of fun writing this one because it's the bond between father & daughter- something I'm a fan of. You'll also get a peak of the other characters! In this chapter you learn more of Michael Ann's personality. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I'm in love with a stripper

_The door slammed shut, and Seth just stood there._

"So," Michael Ann began. "this ice cream isn't bad at all." she said as she and Seth came out of Jerry's ice cream shop.

"Mmmhmmm" Seth replied, his mouth full of chocolaty goodness. He was devouring the ice cream like a monster would. The two were spending the Saturday together because Summer had to work all day. The spring fashion deadline was soon.

Michael Ann watched Seth with amusement.

Seth noticed this and finally swallowed. "What?" he asked with chocolate smeared all over his face.

Michael Ann just shook her head with a smile. "Oh nothing important." she said.

Seth whipped his mouth with his sleeve.

Michael Ann made a face. "Very attractive, Seth." she commented.

Seth smiled. "Thanks, now why were you smiling?"

Michael Ann laughed. "Because the first thing you did when we walked in that shop was say 'oooh! Chocolate!' immediately like a little boy. Now we come out here and you are just…. Licking away, again, like a little boy" she finally answered.

Seth chuckled. "Eating ice cream is an art."

"Oh really?" Michael Ann asked while raising an eyebrow.

"Mmhmm. But in California we perfected our talents with balboa bars. In fact, me and my best buddy slash brother used to have contests to see who could eat the balboa bar the best. The ladies were the judges of course." Seth said, nodding his head knowingly.

Michael Ann was interested. "Cool. And who is your best buddy slash brother?"

"Ryan Atwood." Seth replied while munching on his cone.

"And the ladies were…?" she asked.

"Summer and Marissa Cooper." he replied without hesitating. He had finished off his ice cream and was now looking at Michael Ann's.

Michael Ann handed Seth her ice cream as if it were an everyday thing. Sort of like a reflex. "Okay, and um, who are Ryan Atwood and Marissa Cooper?" Michael Ann asked as if nothing happened.

Seth stopped dead in his tracks.

Michael Ann stopped as well. "What?" she asked.

"Summer never told you about Ryan and Marissa?" he asked her.

Michael Ann shook her head. "no.." she said slowly. "I mean, not that I know of… or remember. But the names do sound familiar." she replied.

"Oh, okay.." Seth resumed walking.

Michael Ann followed suit.

"Well, like I said, Ryan is my brother, my adoptive brother anyway and-"

"-so he's my uncle?" Michael Ann cut in.

Seth took a moment. "Uh, yeah, I guess he is…. Man, I need to tell him that." he realized.

Michael Ann nodded her head. "So… no one knows about me then?"

Seth looked at her. Her face looked kind of sad. "Well, not yet… they'll know soon.. We're just waiting for the right time to tell them. I mean, I was surprised when I found out." he said, trying to comfort her.

Michael Ann look at Seth and smiled. "yeah, that'd be cool. I want to meet them. So um, and who is Marissa Cooper?"

"She was Summer's best friend and the girlfriend of Ryan. She was one of my best friends too. Actually, she was the friend I told you about who was in design."

Michael Ann realized this. "Oh yeah…" she said slowly. "Riiiiiiight. When you were trying to get my mother's name. Smooth." she said with a twinkle in her eye.

Seth nodded his head once in pride. "Yeah, well, I can be pretty stealth." he said.

Michael Ann laughed. "I'm suuuuure. Because my mom just LOVES to tell lies."

Seth opened his mouth in a fake gasp. "Your mom has been talking about me!" he asked in 'astonishment'.

"Oh yeah, alllllll the time. You should feel special" she replied.

Seth's smile got bigger. "Well, actually, I do." he laughed.

"So, back to our earlier subject. Marissa still Ryan's girlfriend?" she asked Seth.

Seth shook his head. "No, they broke up in college.. It was ugly."

Michael Ann's eyes widened. "Awww, yeah? What happened?"

Seth looked up into the sky, wondering if he should answer it. HA, as if he couldn't. "Well, basically Ryan got accepted to a college transfer across the country and wanted Marissa to go with him. But the college he was going to transfer to didn't hold her major so she couldn't leave. They were both depressed and hated it. They both blamed each other to the point where they got into a big fight and called it quits. I think that's what happened anyway. You see, Ryan doesn't like talking about… not that he talks much anyway."

Michael Ann was silent. "Do they still love each other?" she finally said.

Seth nodded his head. "Yeah, I think so. They were just stupid at the time."

"What happened after that?" she asked.

"Uhmm…" Seth began. What happened? Oh yeah. "..he went to the college, depressed as hell and Marissa stayed in school. After she graduated though, she went away from everyone. I think she hated being reminded. I still talk to her though. She keeps in touch with me and my parents. How's life and what not. She admitted she still thinks of Ryan, actually. But Ryan doesn't know I talk to her, and she doesn't want him knowing."

Michael Ann frowned. "Aww, that's so sad. I mean… I hate it when two people break up if they're still in love, you know?" she asked him.

Seth's smile faded and looked down to the ground. "Yeah.." he responded.

Michael Ann bit her lip. "Seth, I talked to mom…"

Seth's head went up. "yeah?" he asked.

Michael Ann nodded her head. "She told me what happened. I mean, she didn't give me details," ew. "But she gave me the jist. That you wanted to hang out with me more before anything happened, right?" she asked him.

"Yeah" he replied.

The two came to a bench and they both sat down. By now Seth had already finished the ice cream. He was staring at the ground. Michael Ann was staring at Seth, trying to see herself in him.

"She say anything else?" Seth asked quietly.

"Uh, Yeah, she did. But I don't know if I should tell you. It's mom-daughter confidentiality." She replied with a wink.

Seth nodded his head in acknowledgment. "That's fair…." He sounded so sad.

"She misses you, though." Michael Ann said hopefully. She was trying to comfort him.

Seth looked up at Michael Ann and slightly smiled. "I do too." he responded quietly.

Michael Ann sighed. "I know I sounded selfish on the phone… but I didn't think it would have made an effect on your relationship." she stated.

Seth chuckled. "No, it's not your fault. Your messages just made us realize what we were doing." he looked back up to the sky. "We were rushing." he said loudly.

Michael Ann understood. "She was always one to care and worry about that stuff. This one time, I was rushing to school and I ran across a red light on the street and almost got hit by a car and mom yelled at me."

Seth looked at Michael Ann and laughed. "Mike, she suppose to yell. You did a bad thing. It's her job."

Michael Ann opened her mouth. "But I almost died! And she yelled at me!"

Seth shook his head with a smile. "Did she at least ask you if you were okay first?"

"yeeee-aaaah.." she said slowly. "what's your point…?"

Seth coughed. "Never mind."

Michael Ann giggled. "Okay."

Seth decided to change the subject. "So… what's going to happen with soccer?"

"Oh, mom went over to my coach's office and tried to explain what happened, you know, the situation.. But he wouldn't have any of it. I've officially been suspended."

"Yeah, I know that. I mean, I tried to talk to him the other day too, during my free period.."

Michael Ann smiled. "you tried to help me too?" she asked.

Seth nodded. "yeah, didn't help much. He has, however, become suspicious with why I was trying to help you. I think he's gunna pull a Mr. Vernando." he replied.

Michael Ann laughed. "A Mr. Vernando?"

"That's right. It's the new name for 'let's get rid of this teacher because he is sexually harassing a student'."

"Uh huh." Michael Ann said. "Right."

Seth smiled. "it's teacher talk."

Michael Ann rolled her eyes. "of course."

"oh, and how is your friend… ummm.." Seth furrowed his eye brows in concentration. "her name…" she muttered to himself. "OH! Natalie. How's your friend Natalie?"

Michael Ann burst out laughing. "Man.. You don't want to know Seth. It's…. I'll tell you someday. Just not today… deal?"

"Okay…" he replied slowly. "So how is it, anyway?" Seth asked her out of the blue.

"How's what?" she asked.

"Having your dad as a teacher?"

Michael Ann pondered the question. "Interesting. Doesn't feel much different. You're just cooler than the rest." she replied with a dazzling smile. Just like her mother.

"That's nice to know. I'm cool." Seth replied with a grin. He just stared at her as she started playing with her bracelets.

She noticed this. "What?" she asked him.

"You look just like your mother" he said.

"Yeah? You think?" She's heard it before. But not from the guy who was in love with her mother.

"Yeah, and trust me, that is a major compliment coming from me." he replied.

"I thought so… but her hair is a lot nicer than mine." she complained.

Seth laughed. "Well, that's because you got my hair, kid."

Michael Ann glared at him. "So you're the culprit."

"Guilty like a mouse who stole cheese."

Michael Ann just realized something. "Oh hey! Seth! YOU got me engaged into a conversation! It takes mom a while to do that, so I give you bonus points!"

Seth looked at Michael Ann through the corner of his eye. "Hmm, and is that a good thing?" he asked.

"Oh yes, definitely. Mom is always trying to win points. To tell you the truth, I got it from her. I'm always trying to earn points as well. Did mom give you any yet?" She looked at him and asked.

Seth thought for a moment. Then he remembered she did last time. "Yeah.. You were there, remember?" he looked back at her.

"No" she replied. "But if she did, that's all that matters."

Seth nodded his head in agreement. "So why do you do the whole point thing, anyway?"

Michael Ann searched for the right words. "Well…" she began. "We don't do it that much. It's quite rare when we use the whole point thing. Basically everyone uses the point thing. You know, when you meet someone you're like, 'I like this about so-and-so' or 'I hate this about so-and-so'. That whole pros and cons thing. Well, we call them points. When we see something we don't like, it's like mental point deducting. If we really like something and comment about points out loud, then we really like it. Do you get it?" She asked after her explanation.

Seth again nodded his head. "As weird as it may seem… I do."

Michael Ann laughed. "Good. Most people don't really understand us.. So, I give you more points, Seth." She replied with a smile.

"Cool." Seth replied, trying to keep cool. He wouldn't admit he was happy. 'Yes! I got more points!' Seth thought.

Michael Ann giggled. "Yeah…"

The two sat together in comfortable silence, watching the sun set slowly.

"So this is nice." Seth said after a while.

"Yeah, it is." Michael Ann agreed.

"You need to see the sun in Cali though, now THAT is something." he said.

"I'd think so. Mom used to talk about the environment and weather there all the time. She hates the cold."

Seth laughed. "Yeah, that seems like something Summer would think. She never wanted to leave Newport."

Michael Ann sighed. "Yeah… man, I can't wait to see it."

Seth looked down. "Eh, well, it's nothing that great… but I guess in your point of view, it must be something."

Michael Ann thought for a moment. "Yeah, it is. It's the place where my parents grew up, how is that NOT interesting?" she asked.

"I didn't say it wasn't… just.. Never mind" he responded.

"Okay" she agreed. "…So what are your thoughts on Jane Eyre going back to Mr. Rochester after he broke her heart the first time, not to mention the fact he also became blind and crippled?" She asked to change the subject.

Seth just stared at her, his mouth slightly opened. "..You're 12, right?"

Michael Ann nodded. "yeah.." she said slowly. "By the way, what is with all that 'the cay' crap? Shouldn't we be reading better books than THAT?" she asked him.

Seth laughed.

Michael Ann glared at him. "What?" she asked, confused.

Seth got quite. "..God, you are so smart." he finally said. "You should be in high school to read that."

Michael Ann smirked. "Well, I don't mean to brag, but I will. I do love to read, and I am better than some of the people in my class." she said with a proud grin.

Seth laughed again. "Man.. You should be doing normal 12 year old stuff… instead of reading 'big books' and talking about sex, seriously." he said.

This time Michael Ann laughed. "Yeah? Like what? What does a normal 12 year old do? Huh?"

Seth was silent.

"Yeah, I thought so. There are girls who are much worse than me…. 12 year old whores, to be exact. Just trying constantly to be older than they really are…"

Seth nodded his head in agreement.

"So, Seth, tell me what you did when you were 12." She asked him with a grin.

Seth answered without hesitation. "Oh that's easy. Video games, Comic books, and…" he trailed off. He suddenly got really red in the face.

Michael Ann was amused. "Yeah…." she replied, urging him to go on.

"…and girls." he finished.

Michael Ann laughed. "See! Sex indulged!"

Seth put his hands up in defense. "Nono, I didn't even THINK about sex… Not with her anyway." he said.

Michael Ann giggled. "And who is that girl?" she asked.

Seth's face got redder. Why should he be embarrassed to admit it was Summer Roberts? "..Summer." he finally said.

Michael Ann's eyes widened. "You've been in love with mom for THAT long?" she asked him.

Seth nodded. "Since the third grade… well, technically it was the 5th grade, I just began liking her in the 3rd grade.. But when I was 10, I knew she was the one." he stated.

Michael Ann nudged Seth in the ribs. "Awww, look at that, my dad is an old softy."

Seth pulled away. "Stop it" he whined.

"a true romantic" she continued.

Seth laughed. "I'm serious. Stop it, it's not funny."

"Oh yeah, you really are serious… especially with all the laughing." she stopped nudging him and smiled.

"So, your mother didn't tell you anything about our past?" He asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

"Well, she did, but she failed to mention you were in love with her for THAT long. She said a long time, but I was thinking more of a high school crush thing…. Not a elementary thing."

Phew. "Okay, good. I was worried she didn't care.. Or even remembered." He answered.

They both went silent again.

Just then, Seth's cell phone began ringing. It was Summer.

"Good afternoon, gorgeous" he said into the phone.

Michael Ann grimaced and new immediately it was her mother.

Seth saw her face and poked her.

She poked back.

"Hey Cohe…-Seth" Summer answered back. She heard Michael Ann giggled. She didn't want to admit it, but she was jealous…. Of her own daughter! 'But it was my decision' she reminded herself.

"what's up?" he asked her.

"Oh nothing much except Natalie is here waiting for Michael Ann…. I can hear her in the background.. Having fun?" she asked.

Seth nodded his, only she couldn't see him. "Yeah," he replied. "It's pretty good so far. Granted, all we've done is talk.. But it's still a nice way to hang out…"

"Yeah," Summer replied softly. "So, er, anyway… can I talk to Michael Ann for a bit?" she asked him. Talking to him wasn't that easy.

"Yeah, hold on a sec," he replied, handing the phone to Michael Ann.

She was right, it was her mother. "Hey mom!" Michael Ann said cheerfully in the phone. "What's going on?"

"Natalie's here waiting for you… remember that whole girls thing?" Summer replied.

Michael Ann's eyes widened as she remembered. "oh yeah! I totally forgot. Okay, tell her I'll be there soon…… mmmhmm…. Okay, yeah, sure, alright…. Love you too, mom." she then handed the phone back to Seth. "she wants to talk to you" she said.

"Hello?" he asked into the phone.

"Hey C-Seth, GOSH. That's hard. Sorry, er, yeah, anyway. I just wanted to say thank you for taking care of her when I had to work.." Summer replied, she sounded embarrassed.

Seth smiled. He was making her squirm. "Yeah, no, it's not problem. We were gunna hang out sooner or later, isn't that right Mike?" he asked Michael Ann, nudging her on the side.

Michael Ann rolled her eyes as she waited for the conversation to end.

"She rolled her eyes, didn't she?" Summer asked Seth.

"You bet she did." he replied.

Summer smiled. He couldn't see her, but he could tell she was smiling.

"So, I have a lot of work to do… but call me later, okay? We need to talk about Christmas break, right? So… yeah, basically I just wanted to say thanks… and uh," she thought for a moment. She sounded like an idiot. "Well, yeah, okay." she laughed. "Bye, Seth."

Seth chuckled. "Bye… Summer." and clicked the phone off.

"Awkward?" Michael Ann asked once Seth stuck the phone back into his pocket.

Seth nodded his head sadly. "Yeah, sort of. I guess she's feeling weird about the whole thing…"

"Well, that's a good thing… I think. When she becomes awkward, it usually means she's fighting anticipation."

Seth thought for a moment. "Oh yeah! That's right……. I remember this one time.." he looked at Michael Ann through the corner of his eye. "…never mind, maybe when you're older." he finished. He wasn't going to tell her about the one time when Ryan and Marissa bet him and Summerthey couldn't keep their hands off each other for at least a month. They weren't allowed to kiss or do any 'love making' as Ryan put it to annoy Seth. Of course, they failed miserably. They only got as far as a week. It was a saturday and there they were, Seth and Summer, sitting on a couch doing nothing. Summer knew it wasn't going to work. She needed to kiss him. From an outsider's point of view, it looked really awkward. Like one of them walked on the other naked or something. But from there point of veiw, they were just waiting for the other to make the first move. Which one will breakdown first? Summer knew it'd be Seth.

Michael Ann raised an eyebrow. "No, it's fine. I definitely don't want to know."

Seth laughed. "True." he said. "So then," he stood up.

Michael Ann did the same.

"Let's get you home, shall we?" he asked.

Michael Ann nodded her head. "Yeah, okay. Nat's waiting for me. Besides, I need to talk to mom about something anyway." she said and began walking ahead of Seth.

Seth stopped for a moment. "Hey, Mike?" he asked.

Michael Ann turned around. "Hmm?" she replied.

"Why do you always refer to Summer as 'mom' but you don't call me 'dad'?" he asked her, feeling a little left out and, well, heck, unloved.

Michael Ann thought for a moment. "Well, Seth," she said, "you gotta earn it."

* * *

A/N: If you don't understand my disclaimer, it's okay. Just ask and I shall explain it in the next chap. Also, this chapter may be bland or boring. But guess what? The next chapter should be interesting (I hope!) so just bear with me:D I also hope you like Michael Ann. I think she's kind of cool. I had a better chapter of this, but like most things, I couldn't remember what they originally say. So now, I've decided to write down my thoughts whenever I get some good ideas! I usually get best ideas while doing something random, like brushing my teeth. HA. ER, yeah. Okay. Well, I hope you liked it! R&R! 


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N**: AHHHH! I'm so glad you all loved it:D Seriously! Okayokay. I've decided to make a Valentine short piece soon:D I think I'll post it either on the 13th or the actual 14th :) You'll find out what happens in there once you read it:D HAHA. BTW, the number is not real. I just made it up. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter! Enjoy:D

**Disclaimer**: I like chicken.

"_Why do you always refer to Summer as 'mom' but you don't call me 'dad'?" he asked her, feeling a little left out and, well, heck, unloved._

_Michael Ann thought for a moment. "Well, Seth," she said, "you gotta earn it."_

"Uh-huh, anddddd?" Summer urged Michael Ann to go on.

"..and that's basically it" Michael Ann finished.

Summer's face fell. "Aw, really? Come on, there's gotta be more." she asked again.

"Hmm, let me think.." Michael Ann replied.

It was now around 11:20 at night, the same night Michael Ann and Seth hung out. Both girls, Michael Ann and Summer, were wearing flannel pajama's and eating ice cream on top of Michael Ann's gigantic bed. Having a typical girl night. Of course, Summer was trying to get all the information or things 'Cohen' had said to her. Did he miss her? Did he hate her? Or what?

"Oh yeah!" Michael Ann said suddenly.

"What?" Summer asked.

Michael Ann smiled mysteriously, got up the bed, and walked over to her jeans. She pulled out a small piece of paper out of the pocket and went back to the bed.

"Here." She replied. She handed the piece of paper to Summer. "Seth wanted me to give this to you."

Summer eyed her suspiciously and accepted the piece of paper. She looked down and saw on the paper, scrawled in Seth's messy handwriting: "Coop". Summer opened up the paper and saw a phone number on it.

Summer looked back up at Michael Ann with a big smile on her face. "Is this what I think it is?" she asked her.

Michael Ann nodded her head. "Yup. Seth thought you might want to catch up with ol' pal Marissa Cooper. So he gave you her number…"

"OMG! This is sooo great!" she said excitedly. "I can't believe he thought of that. He is so sweet." She gushed.

Michael Ann rolled her eyes. "Mom," she said in a bored voice. "You are already knew that."

Summer laughed. "Yeah, well, I'm just happy and thankful. Note to self: Call Cohen and thank him."

Michael Ann got an idea. "OH! How about you send him flowers or something? Make it more special?" she asked her.

Summer grimaced. "Me? Send Cohen flowers?" she asked. She burst out laughing.

Michael Ann joined in at the thought. "Okay, well, I was just suggesting." she said after the laughter died down.

Summer nodded her head. "Actually, you're right… it should be more than a call. It can be like a two way thing, you know? Thanking him but also showing him I haven't forgotten him…. Hmm, something public too. I can send it during one of his English classes.." she began.

"Oh yeah! Good, good, good. Do it during 4th period! That's when I have him" Michael Ann replied.

Summer nodded. "Okay… but what should I do?"

Michael Ann thought. "Well, what does he like?" she asked. "I mean, I know what he likes… but I don't know everything he likes.. I think" she continued.

"Oh, well, that's easy. Food, Video games, and Comic Books." Summer replied nonchalantly.

Michael Ann laughed.

"What?" Summer asked at her sudden outburst.

"Seth said the same thing.." she replied.

Summer nodded her head knowingly. "Well, it's true. OH. He also loves indie and emo music." she said.

This time Michael Ann made a face. "ew." she said.

Summer sighed. "I know, it's not even funny."

Michael Ann agreed. "I guess that's Seth for you. So, er, anyway, and ideas?" she asked.

Summer tilted her head. "Well, let's see Comic books…. Crappy music… and video games…" Summer looked at Michael Ann, "your dad is so cool."

Michael Ann laughed. "Yeah, I know. You're so lucky you got such a catch." she replied.

Summer truly agreed. She really was lucky. "I know, I really am." she said.

Michael Ann's face got serious. "..he told me something I didn't say to you, yet.." she said.

Summer's face lightened up. "Yeah?" she asked. "And what was that?"

"That he named a boat after you when he was like… my age." she said.

Summer was quiet.

"So, is it true?" Michael Ann asked her mom.

Summer smiled at the memory. "Yup. It was nice, too. He called it the 'Summer Breeze'. It was a cute boat. Granted, I never got to actually sail on it… but then he got another boat that was much bigger, and we sailed on that one later. That was a great night.." she said thinking back on the summer before senior year.

Michael Ann smiled. "Seems like it was a lot of fun."

Summer nodded. "It was."

An awkward silence came upon the two.

"Anyway, about the 'thank you' to Seth, how about you like, send him a map or something about sailing, or food, food works." Michael Ann said, breaking the silence.

"Right, right, the 'thank you'" Summer said, her head coming back on earth. "Er, actually, food works best, I think. Hm… OH! I got it! I'll send him a box of tea bags."

Michael Ann just stared at Summer. "A box of tea bags?" she asked as if Summer was kidding.

Summer smiled and nodded. "Yup. It's an inside joke." she said.

"OOh… that makes sense.. Care to share?" she asked her.

Summer squinted her eyes and raised an eyebrow. "You really want to know?" she asked daringly.

Michael Ann took a moment to consider this. "You know what? I'm good. I'm all good. In fact., I'm perfect. Just perfect.." she went on.

Summer laughed. "I thought so."

Michael Ann just shook her head furiously. She did not want to know. But because she thought of it, she immediately guessed. She definitely did not want to know. Michael Ann noticed the ice cream was melting. "I'm going to go put this up, okay?" she asked her mom while picking up the tubs.

"Oh yeah, sure. Need any help?" she asked her.

Michael Ann shook her head. "Nope, I'm fine, I'll be right back." she said and left the room.

Summer sat on Michael Ann's bed waiting. She picked up the piece of paper that was on Michael Ann's dresser. She looked down at it and smiled. Seth was always thinking of her. And guess what? She had Coop's number! She hasn't talked to her in 12 years either. Summer wondered how things were going to go. Which also reminded her, she and Seth needed to discuss Christmukkah break. Was Michael Ann ready to be show off? As Summer was deep into though, Michael Ann came prancing back in.

She jumped onto the foot of the bed. "Whatcha thinkin' 'bout?" Michael Ann asked her.

Summer looked back at her. "Oh wha-? Nothing. Er, just Seth." she blushed slightly.

Michael Ann laughed. "No need to blush, mom, he IS my dad."

"Eh, well, I just … I never really wanted to know what my parents were doing when I was younger, that's all." she replied.

"Well, we're different." Michael Ann replied with a smile.

Summer returned the smile. "Yeah, we are." she agreed.

"So.. Are you going to get back together with him? Because we're pretty good. Me and Seth, I mean. I can't call him dad yet… it's just still weird. But other than that, I like him… if you want my approval, I approve of him." Michael Ann asked Summer.

Was it just Summer, or did Michael Ann sound hopeful? She brushed it off. "Well, I don't know. I mean, at first I did want your approval. And I'm glad you approve.. I just want to see how things go… this time, if I'm with him… I want it to stick, you know? I want this time to be the last." she said.

Michael Ann smiled. "I totally get you, 100." she replied.

"Thanks, Mike."

Michael Ann went over and sat by her mom and put her arm around her. Summer patted Michael Ann's leg.

"If I know you mom, it'll happen soon. You ALWAYS get what you want." Michael Ann said, half joking.

Summer fake gasped. "Are you saying I'm spoiled!"

Michael Ann nodded her head. "You know it." she said.

Summer laughed. "yeah? Well, so are you." she said and stuck out her tongue.

Michael Ann laughed too. "Of course, I am your offspring. You've taught me everything I know."

"Yeah, and I a lot of thanks I get." Summer replied.

"Thanks, mom." Michael Ann said seriously. She hugged her mom a little tighter.

The two just sat in comfortable silence.

"So mooooom," Michael Ann began slyly. She looked at Summer through the corner of her eyes.

Summer raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Wonder woman, really?" Michael Ann asked with a big goofy grin.

Summer sighed but smiled anyway. "Seth talks to much." Summer muttered under her breath.

* * *

Summer was quickly pacing the living room. "Okay, Summer," she said to herself. "Breath, it's time to do it." She was clutching Marissa Cooper's number. "It's just a phone call, I mean, yeah, I haven't talked to her in forever, but still, just a phone call." she said. 'Yeah, with your best friend you just left' she added in her head.

Michael Ann was off at school, so was Seth. Summer was by herself, contemplating if she should call Marissa. After an hour of debating, she finally decided and picked up the phone to call her. However, once she did, she became unsure again.

It was indeed, a horrible crisis. Just like choosing the perfect outfit.

"Okay!" Summer said to herself. "You're gunna do it now!" she said and clicked on the phone. She immediately punched in the numbers before she could change her mind.

It was ringing.

'If she doesn't answer after 3 ring, I'm hanging up.' Summer said to herself. After the 2nd ring, a voice was heard.

"Hello?" Marissa Cooper answered.

Summer was silent.

"Hellooo?" She asked again.

Again, Summer was silent.

"Anyone there?" No answer. "Who is this?" Marissa asked, slightly annoyed. "Well, if you're not going to answer, I'm going to hang up." she said.

"Wait!" Summer accidentally yelled out. Crap.

"Summer?" Marissa asked. "Is that you?"

Summer's eyes widened. "Ho- How did you know?" she asked back.

"OH MY GOD! SUMMER! SUMMER ROBERTS! IS THAT REALLY YOU!" Marissa yelled into the phone, she sounded awfully excited.

Summer couldn't help but get sucked into the excitement. "YES!" she yelled back. "IT'S ME! COOP! IT'S SO GOOD TO HEAR YOU!" she shrieked.

"OH MY GOD! MEE TOO! OH MY GOSH.. I-" Marissa burst out laughing. "I THINK WE SHOULD STOP YELLING." she said.

Summer laughed too. "OKAY. ER. OKAY! IM SORRY, I'M JUST SO EXCITED. OKAY, OKAY, GIVE ME A MOMENT." Summer put her hand over the mouth piece and breathed. She was deadly excited.

Once she collected herself, and answered back. "Hey, Coop."

Marissa calmed down too. "Hey Summer." she said.

Summer giggled. She was very giddy. "How did you know it was me?" she asked.

Marissa giggled too. "I can tell by your voice. I haven't forgotten it. You have to remember, I grew up with you since we were in diapers." she replied.

"Aww, Coop. I'm so glad you remembered!" Summer said.

"I'm quite proud of myself, actually." she said with a laugh. "Not that I don't like you calling me but, how did you get my number?" Marissa asked Summer.

"Cohen didn't tell you?" Summer asked, slightly confused.

Summer could hear Marissa gasp. "YOU TALKED TO SETH!" she yelled/asked.

Summer laughed again. "Yeah! He gave me your number…" she trailed off.

"Oh my god… how long have you guys been talking?" Marissa asked her.

Summer thought for a moment. "About… three or four weeks? Yeah, about a month, I think." Summer replied.

"What!" Marissa yelled. "I talked to him last week, and he said NOTHING! NOTHING! Just that his job was fine and….. Oh, I am going to kick his-"

Summer burst out laughing. "Sorry Coop, but… I don't think you can kick Cohen's ass."

Marissa laughed too. "Well, it's SETH, I probably could. Remember freshman year? I took down Yulonda. And she was bigger than Seth."

"Oh my gosh, you're right. Nevermind. You probably can." Summer said, nodding and not caring about Seth getting his ass kicked. She was just too happy to care. She went over to her couch and sat down.

"So, anyway…. Summer, How are you! Oh my god, actually, Why did you leave! What happened! Are you married! Have kids! Are you and Seth back together!" Marissa bombarded Summer with questions.

Summer took a deep breath. She knew this was coming and prepared herself. "Well, Coop…" she said slowly, "I'm pretty good… I'm not married, and no, me and Seth are not back together, I mean, not really anyway. But I guess you could say we are 'promised' together… or something like that… Yes, I do have a kid," she heard Marissa gasp, "and as for why I left and what happened… well, I got pregnant. A girl. She's Seth's daughter by the way… and well…" she trailed off.

Marissa was silent on the other line. She was taking it all in. "Hey," she said softly. "If you don't want to tell me all of it right now.. You don't have to. I can always ask Seth.." she said, hoping she wasn't too forward earlier.

Summer smiled. "Could you? I had a hard time explaining it to Seth the first time… and, well, yeah." she said.

Marissa smiled. "Okay good, and if I'm not satisfied with his answer. I'll just ask you again!" she said jokingly.

Summer laughed. "okay, fine… later, though."

"So, what's your daughter's name?" Marissa asked.

"Michael Ann." Summer replied.

"Really? That is such a cute name!" Marissa exclaimed.

"Yeah, I thought so.. Seth thought it was weird.." Summer pouted.

"Aww, well, Seth knows nothing." Marissa replied.

The two of them laughed.

"So, hey Coop, next week is Winter break…. And we were thinking of going back to the Cohen's in Newport. It'll be the first time I'll be there in 12 years and Mike's first time… so I was thinking you could come back and actually see us… I mean, because I have to get to work too and I REALLY want to see you and every thing!" Summer said, stressing 'really'.

Marissa took a moment and thought. "well…" she said hesitantly. "I REALLY want to see you too, not to mention your DAUGHTER," she said, still amazed at that fact, "..but… Ryan.." she said.

Summer understood. "Oh… okay.. Well… maybe you don't have to see him.."

Marissa laughed bitterly. "I doubt it."

Summer bit her lip. "Well, what happened, anyway? Seth told me you guys weren't together.." she said.

Marissa paused. "Actually, I'll tell you when I see you next week, okay? That's when we should really, REALLY, catch up. Jobs, kids, the whole nine yards." Marissa replied.

"Well, okay.. I guess, I mean… wait! SO YOU'RE COMING!" Summer asked excitedly.

Marissa laughed. "YES! I've decided I want to see my best friend from years ago, and if I have to, I'll bear Ryan…I mean, well… I do want to see him, how he is…"

Summer nodded, but she knew she couldn't see her. She looked at the clock. If she didn't leave soon, she'll be in trouble. "Okay! Sorry, Coop, but I have to go. Work. So, uh, I'll see you next week, okay? Be there by Saturday and the airport, and you know which one I'm talking about. Let's meet each other there. Okay?"

"Okay" Marissa agreed.

"Okay." Summer repeated. "I can't wait! Bye Coop!" she said giddily.

"Bye, Sum." Marissa replied in the same exact voice.

Two best friends were going to be reunited.

* * *

**A/N**:I hope you liked it :O R&R I'll talk more later :) It's just my brother is reading over my shoulder. Sorry if the Marissa & Summer conversation was weird... it was suppose to stop earlier, but that didn't make much sense (it did at the timeI thought of it, anyway), I seriously hoped you loved it:D R&R ;) 


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N**: Hello everyone! GUESS WHAT! NEW CHAPTER:D HAHA! ER, yeah. Anyway, I'm glad some of you liked my Valentine special, it was fun to do! HA. So anyway, I've decided to give out messages to my reviews from now on, just because I feel I should give you some attention and to thank you for reading:D Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, I would enjoy your feedback!

**Disclaimer**: What's his face owns the O.C. (If I say his name, it makes it more real)

_Two best friends were going to be reunited._

"Hmm, I'd say a seven." Seth Cohen said.

Michael Ann Roberts squinted her eyes. "Mmmm, nuh-uh." she replied.

"What!" Seth said. "What's wrong with him?" he asked her.

"Well, first of all, his pants are too baggy," she began, "and second of all, look at that hair. It has WAY to much gel." she explained.

Seth rolled his eyes. "You're just too picky." he stated.

That's right, you guessed it. Seth and Michael Ann were outside the school rating people 1- 10, 10 being the best and 1 being the worst. Michael Ann was clutching her books to her chest and wearing big, very stylish Prada sun glasses— just incase someone got suspicious. She was leaning against the cool brick wall with Seth right beside her, doing the same thing, except with his arms crossed and no sun glasses. It was 9:41 AM and it was time for a parent-teacher conference before the student's winter break.

Another young boy came passing by. Seth pointed at him. "There! Him! He has GOT to be at least an 8 or 9." he said looking at Michael Ann. So far, she has given most boys a very low number, 4 being the highest. It was annoying Seth, especially because he saw some of himself in the boys he chose.

Michael Ann hid a smile. "Hmmm…" she thought out loud. "Okay, fine, a _seven_." she said.

Seth smiled. "YES!" he said triumphantly. "Finally!" he exclaimed. "That took freaking forever!" he began ranting. He turned to face Michael Ann and pointed both his fingers in her face.

As he was yelling in 'hurray', Summer Roberts walked up the steps with an amused smile on her face. She was holding two coffees in her hand. Her outfit was very professional She was wearing a light baby blue blouse with a brown blazer and a matching skirt. Her hair was up in a pin.

"…a seven is good-looking." Seth stated. "and that boy WAS good-looking."

"ahhhh, I see Coh-Seth found his true sexuality." Summer said with a smirk.

Seth paused before he turned around. He came face to face with Summer. "Good mornin', Summer. You're looking beautiful as always." Seth said.

Summer blushed at the compliment.

Seth just realized what Summer had said earlier. "And I am NOT gay." he said.

Summer nodded her head. "Mmmhmm, and what were you just doing?" she asked him.

Seth paused. "Er….." he trailed off.

Summer smiled. "I thought so!" she said.

Seth pointed a finger at her. "Hey!" he said defensively. "Just because I was… you know…. Rating a guy, which, by the way, was for our daughter's benefit does NOT mean I'm gay… and you of all people should know that." Seth finished with a smirk.

Michael Ann looked at her parents in disgust.

"Too much information, Seth." she said.

Summer laughed. "Yeah, doofus, and besides, our daughter is TWELVE, it can't benefit her. She doesn't need guys right now." she said.

"Who says that?" he asked her. "I bet you had a hundred of crushes! And besides, I was in love with you when I was twelve." he replied.

Summer looked down to the floor.

Michael Ann saw the two adults look away from each other and laughed nervously. "Uhhhh, um, I mean, Hey!" she said trying hard to be assertive. "Don't I get to decided if I'm old enough for a guy or not….?" still laughing nervously she trailed off wanting to desperately break the awkward silence.

Summer looked up at Michael Ann and smiled. She turned back to Seth and handed him the coffee. "Here. I thought you might have been thirsty… or at least tired." she said with a small smile.

Seth nodded his head. "Yeah." he grabbed it. "Thanks." he said, smiling too.

Michael mocked gasped. "Oh my gosh, mom! You buy HIM coffee and me NOTHING!" she asked.

Summer rolled her eyes. "come on, my loser," she put an arm around her shoulder. "let's go inside and meet Mr. Smellyhead." she said.

Michael Ann giggled. "Okay… oh! I forgot to tell you… last week, when his wig flew off, a DIFFERENT nasty smell flew with it… it wasn't that bad before." she said, telling her mom.

"oh, ew." Summer muttered with a very concern face.

Seth watched from afar, okay, not really far, but he watched from behind. His two favorite girls.

Before entering the build, Summer turned her head to Seth. "See you later, teach." she said with a wink, and pulled the door open.

* * *

"…and um, well, to sum it all up, I think he really needs to try harder. I am seriously not satisfied with his grades." Seth explained to Mr. Durgan, one of his student's fathers. The two men were sitting in a couple of chairs in Seth's classroom. Seth was clutching a clipboard and there were a bunch of folders laid out on a desk.

Mr. Durgan nodded his head. "A lot of late homework, eh? Okay," he sighed and stood up. "I'll work on that and have a talk with my boy. Thank you," he stuck his hand out. "Mr. Cohen."

"Seth, please." Seth replied, taking his hand and shaking. "It was nice meeting you."

"You too. And thanks again." Mr. Durgan replied and left out the door.

Seth sighed and gathered up all the folders into a pile. Afterwards, he looked down on his clipboard and looked at his list. 'yes!' he thought. 'a break! Finally!'. He laid his clipboard down onto a desk and left his classroom, whistling a cheery tune. When he reached the teacher's lounge coffee table, he saw a lot of parents and teachers there, chatting away. He noticed a particular brunette attempting to put coffee into a cup. The coffee was spurting everywhere.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Summer muttered in a panicky voice, trying to stop the scalding hot coffee from going everywhere. "WHY WON'T YOU STOP!" she yelled, looking like she was going to kick the machine.

Rage blackouts, yikes.

Seth immediately took action and grabbed the cup away from her. He simply clicked a green button on the side and the coffee stopped spewing. Seth cracked a smile and looked at Summer. She looked dumbfounded. "hey," he said in a 'comforting-type' voice, "as long as you're pretty." he winked at her.

Summer shot him a glare once she realized what he had said and smacked him in the arm.

"Ow!" he said, rubbing the area furiously. "That hurt."

Summer stuck her tongue out. "Yeah, well, that's what you get for calling me dumb." she replied.

"I never-" Seth began but was interrupted by another woman's voice.

"Oh Sethhhhhh" a voice sang out.

'Crap.' Seth thought when he heard her voice.

A blonde woman with enormous breasts came prancing his way. She was wearing an extremely showy skirt and a very revealing blouse. She was a 32 year old mother trying to be 24. Her name was Cathy Andrews. Ahem, Mrs. Andrews, Darin's mom.

Summer looked disgusted but smiled when Cathy reached them. "Hi, I'm Summer Roberts." she said, sticking out her hand.

Cathy just stared at it and went back to Seth. "So…." she battered her eyelashes. "…When's our conference?" she asked in a supposedly seductive voice, but it came out like a frog croaking.

Seth closed his eyes for a moment, wishing he was somewhere else but here.

Summer finally put her hand down and turned to Seth. "Um.. I'm gunna go and um, find Mike." she said to him, trying to keep from laughing. She walked away, dying to find Michael Ann and tell her what she just witnessed.

Seth was mortified but nodded his head in acknowledgement. He turned to Cathy. "Mrs. Andrews," he said. "We already had a conference…. This morning." he said.

Cathy smiled. "You know what I mean.." she said slowly.

Seth gulped. "Uh, actually, I don't." he said.

Cathy just laughed and touched his chest with her hand, as if what he said was the funniest thing in the world. "Don't be silly. You are so cute when you try to act dumb. I mean-" but she never got to finish.

The principle came in with her son, Darin, in his hands. "Mrs. Andrews, We need to talk." he said in a firm and angry voice.

Cathy looked at Seth in embarrassment and excused herself.

"Gladly." Seth muttered under his breath. He went back to the coffee machine, thinking about what just happened. Where was Summer now? Probably hyperbolizing the story to Michael Ann.

He picked up a foam cup and placed it under the coffee machine. As he clicked it, he heard and "ahem" behind him.

"Patience is a virtue." he said as he turned around to see who was so impatient.

It was Clarista Benningfield. A beautiful mom Seth thought was 'okay'. He was attracted to her, but he never thought of anything than just being friends with her.

Clarista smiled. "Sorry, that wasn't a 'hurry up' ahem, it was like 'ahem, look! It's me!'" she said, trying to explain herself. "hi." she finally said, blushing slightly.

"Oh.. Okay," he said. "that makes sense… so, hi." he replied with a shy smile.

Clarista giggled. "Er, anyway, I just wanted to thank you again for helping Trevor out this semester… like I said, in the past, English has always been boring and hard for him… and now he's starting to love it and that just makes me happy." she said with a big smile.

Seth chuckled. "Yeah, well, English is a great thing, so I'm glad he now likes it…." he said, beginning to ramble.

From behind, Summer and Michael Ann watched them interact. Summer had her arm around Michael Ann's shoulder. Michael Ann felt her mother tense up a bit at the sight they were seeing. She knew the green monster was eating away at her mom.

"Who's that?" Summer asked quietly, trying to keep her cool.

Michael Ann squinted her eyes. "Mrs. Benningfield, Trevor's mom." she replied.

"Oh.." Summer responded. "anything else?" she asked her, not really wanting to know the truth.

Michael Ann knitted her eyebrows in confusion. "……like what?" she asked her.

"She single?" Summer said turning her head to look at Michael Ann, getting right to the point.

Michael Ann bit her lip before responding. "Uh, yeah. She's single." she stated.

Summer winced and went back to look at the couple in front of her. "and?" she asked again.

"…And that's about all I know. She got divorced about a year ago…"

Summer nodded her head.

"…but you know, mom. She has no chance at ALL compared to you. You know Seth wouldn't do anything…" Michael Ann said, trying to lighten the mood.

Summer looked at her strangely. "Okay…" she said slowly.

She and Michael Ann turned their heads back towards Seth and Clarista.

The sight they were seeing was nauseating for Summer. Seth was smiling, no wait, he was laughing. So was Clarista. Her hand was on his chest, and they were just cracking up like mad. Summer watched as Clarista moved slightly towards Seth. As she got closer, the green monster got bigger.

"Stupid bitch." Summer muttered as she watched Clarista 'accidentally' spill her coffee on Seth's shirt and whip it off with a tissue.

Michael Ann's eyes widened. "Woah, okay mom." she said. "No need for such profanity."

Summer shot Michael Ann a look.

Michael Ann just smiled sweetly. She watched her mother's face get darker and sighed. "Mom, I know what you're thinking, and let me tell you…" but she never got to finish. Her mom beat her to it, doing the exact opposite of Michael Ann's foretelling slash future advice.

Summer saw Clarista getting dangerously close to Seth and it was time to, in Summer's very heart-warming words, 'put that bitch back in line'. Summer marched right up to the flirting Seth and Clarista.

Seth turned his head as he felt Summer's presence and was about to say 'hey' before she put her arm around his waist. She grabbed his arm and put it around her own waist, leaned up a bit and kissed him on the cheek. Afterwards, she shot him a very big smile.

"uhh… hey." he said slowly, not sure of what was going on, but enjoying her arm around him very much.

"Hey!" she said in a cheery voice. She turned her head towards Clarista. "Who's this?" she asked, trying to be polite.

Clarista smiled stiffly and took out her hand. "I'm Clarista Benningfield."

Summer accepted the shake. "Oh, well, it's very nice to meet you. I'm Summer Roberts." she said in a phony-type voice.

Seth was just looking between the two women, seriously wondering what the hell was happening. Okay, in his head he was saying 'what the hell is happening?' but he knew very well what was happening. Summer was getting jealous, and he loved it. She was, like she usually did back then, marking her territory. He just continued to smile, oblivious to Michael Ann sending him death glares.

Michael Ann watched the scene being played in front of her with a long, continuing sigh. "Mom…" she muttered to herself. "you need to grow up…" she smacked her head with her hand. "…this always happens." she said. She turned her head towards a very amused Seth. He was just smiling away. 'And you!' she said to herself. 'you should be ashamed! Making mom embarrass herself! You shouldn't even be flirting!' she said. She kept repeating 'you're gunna regret it' in her head, over and over again. She was trying to see if Seth would somehow, maybe telepathically, get the message. She concentrated real hard on Seth, glaring at him at the same time. "you are going to regret it." she said one last time.

'You're gunna regret it.' Seth said all of the sudden in his head. He turned his head towards the door and saw Michael Ann staring at him. He smiled guiltily because he knew she knew what he was thinking - 'that Summer is so hot when she wants me.'

Seth averted his attention back towards Clarista and Summer.

"How do you know Seth?" Summer asked Clarista, it sounded threatening.

Clarista narrowed her eyebrows in response before replying. "My son, Trevor, is in his class…. And I assume you two are dating?" she asked, looking at both Seth and Summer. She shot Seth a look that said 'I can't believe you led me on.'

Seth, however, looked at Summer. "Yeah." he said. "Are we dating?" he asked her too.

The pressure was now on Summer. Were Seth and her dating? "Well.." She began, tightening her grip on Seth's waist. If she said 'no', then she knew Clarista would just jump in, but if she said 'yes', then she knew she would have to do a lot of explaining to Seth. 'But why shouldn't we be together?' she asked herself. Summer looked at Michael Ann with pleading eyes to help her.

Michael Ann saw the look and immediately went in. "Seth!" she yelled. "Seth! SETH! SETH!" she said breathlessly as she jump towards him.

Seth took his eyes off Summer and turned his head to Michael Ann. He was glaring at her.

Michael Ann hid a smile. She look at her parents and at Clarista. "What's going on?" she asked, a small grin slowly forming on her lips.

Clarista began combing her hair with her hands nervously. "Oh, um, nothing." she replied. "Mr. Cohen and um.." she said looking at Summer.

"Summer." Summer replied in an icy tone. 'That bitch forgot my name!'.

"Summer," she went on "were just, you know, talking…. Grown up stuff, sorry Mike. Not for kids." she said.

Michael Ann lifted an eyebrow. She hated when adults treated her like a little baby. "Oh…. Okay. Well" she turned to Summer. "me and my MOM," she stressed "need to go to Wal-Mart and pick up my diapers." she said, glaring at Clarista. She grabbed her moms arm and pulled her away from Seth. "Let's go, mom." she said.

Summer looked to Seth and then to Clarista. "Oh, I'm so sorry I have to go like this. Maybe we'll catch up later?" she asked politely, hiding the relief in her head.

Summer looked back at Seth and kissed him on the cheek again. "See you later, Cohen." she said. She walked away after finally shooting one more glare at Clarista, Michael Ann linking her arm.

Seth just stood there with Clarista, looking dumbfounded. Okay, NOW what just happened?

Clarista glared at Seth. "What the hell was that?" she asked him.

Seth's eyes just grew wider. "I have no idea." he said.

Clarista eyed him carefully. "Did you even know who she was?" she asked.

Seth laughed. "Of course I do… you really think I'd let just any woman touch me?" he asked her.

Clarista smiled and moved in closer to him. "you know.." she said in a low voice "she never said you two were dating…. So, are you going to tell me?" she asked, putting her index finger on his collar.

Seth grabbed on to her finger before it traveled any lower. "Yeah." he said softly. "We are, um, we are dating. Yeah, she's my, my girlfriend." he half stuttered (is that possible?). "I'm sorry."

Clarista just looked at him. "Fine." she said and pulled away. She turned around began walking. "This is what you're missing out on." she said behind her back, trying to move her ass right and left.

Seth smiled. "Yeah, but…. you gotta see Summer do that." he said quietly to himself.

* * *

"Thanks, Mike. You are a life saver." Summer said to Michael Ann as they came out of the building.

Michael Ann rolled her eyes. "You owe me!" she said.

Summer rolled her eyes too. "Okay, fine. What do you want?" she asked.

"Let me think about it later." she said "first, we need you to stop getting like that."

Summer turned her head to face Michael Ann and gave her a glare. "Like what?" she asked hotly.

"You know…. All freakishly jealous." she replied.

"I do not get 'freakishly' jealous!" Summer snapped.

Michael Ann just stared at her.

Summer sighed. "Okay… fine… whatev." she said.

"See mom? You're a loser too." Michael Ann said with a small laugh.

Summer rolled her eyes with a smile and unlinked her arm from Michael Ann and placed it on her shoulder.

"That's okay, we can be losers together." she said.

"Right on." Michael Ann replied.

* * *

Somewhere around 2:30 and Summer stepped up towards Seth Cohen's classroom door, it was wide open. 'Does he ever close it?' she asked herself. She peered inside and saw Seth fiddling around with a bunch of papers looking quite nervous. He was placing folders around and every now and then he would step back and stick his forefinger and thumb out to see if it looked nice. Afterwards he would shake his head and rearrange the folders, muttering something Summer couldn't hear. She watched him for a couple of minutes,

"Ahem." she said.

Seth turned around and saw a pleased looking Summer staring at him. He immediately stood up straight and looked at his watched. He then cleared his throat.

"Summer…" he said. "I was wondering when you were going to be here…"

Summer nodded her head with the same type of smile and walked in, her hands fidgeting slightly.

Seth noticed this. "You okay?" he asked her in a concerned-type voice.

"Yeah. I am." she replied, putting her hands away when she saw what he was looking at. "So, um, let's begin?" she asked him.

"Oh, yeah." he replied, feeling around his pockets. "where's my pen?" he muttered quietly to himself. He turned around and towards his desk, lifting folders and papers searching for his missing pen. When he found it, he went over to Summer and took her hand in his, dragging her towards his desk too. When he reached his destination, he turned around and was now facing Summer. His expression seemed like he wanted to say something, but didn't know if he should.

In Summer's head, they were too close. She could smell his cologne quite clearly and decided to back away slowly. She pulled her hand out of Seth's and sat down in a desk in front of him, looking at him expectantly.

"So what was that all about in the teacher's lounge?" Seth asked bluntly.

Summer rolled her eyes. "This is a parent-teacher conference, Seeeeeth. We are hear to discuss Michael Ann." she said, avoiding his question. "and besides, you already know." she added with a sigh.

Seth smiled. "Well of course I know, but what was that whole walking away thing with Michael Ann?" he asked her.

"Yes, speaking of Michael Ann, shall we talk about her? You know, the thing we should be doing?"

"But you already know everything, I gave you that 'pre-parent teacher conference' thingy." Seth whined.

Summer stood up quickly. "That's right!" she said. "I guess I'll be going, talk to you later, Seeeeeth." she tried to escape but was not fast enough. Seth instantly pulled her arm towards him.

"Not so fast, Miss Roberts." he said.

Summer smiled slightly at the name and waited for what he had to say while she already knew what it was going to be. She had, obviously, been avoiding it and wanted to escape from it.

"I'm going to ask you one more time," Seth said before he took in a deep breath. "Why aren't we together?"

**A/N**: I'm so sorry that took so long to post! But SOOO much stuff happened that delayed it! Anyway, I hope you like this! And I also hope it wasn't boring. This chapter is bringing Seth & Summer closer (is that possible too?) AND making Summer realize her reasoning is fading. So why does Summer keep avoiding Seth, eh? Also, that whole 'seeeeeeeth' thing is showing Summer is trying hard to get used to it. She isn't saying it in that whiney way. Anyway, next chap: WELCOME TO THE O.C! Heck yeah! I'm just excited. **R&R**!


	11. Chapter 11

**Late, I know. Have fun?**

**Disclaimer**: Adam Brody is one hot piece of meat (:

"_I'm going to ask you one more time," Seth said before he took in a deep breath. "Why aren't we together?"_

Seth Cohen glanced up to see a young women staring at him.

Catching his eye, Summer blushed slightly and turned her head away.

Seth raised an eyebrow and went back to his magazine, muttering something under his breath.

It was 11:30 in the morning and Seth, Summer, and Michael Ann were on a plane to Newport; it was a lazy Sunday, much to calm for arguments.

It appeared to the outer view that Seth was tremendously engrossed in his magazine, as his eyebrows were furrowed and his lips were moving furiously. However, that was not the case. He was busy thinking about Summer and her decision, cursing under his breath about how ridiculous it was.

Summer, on the other hand, was openly watching Seth, and giving off a worried aura. She was busy thinking about not only her decision and Seth, but her parents, Seth's parents, and seeing Marissa once again. Not to mention everyone's reaction towards Michael Ann.

As for Michael Ann, well, she didn't know what was happening between her parents. But what she did know was that she was going to be meeting her family in about four hours and was dead exhausted. She had kept herself up all night, excited about the trip. Easily, she fell asleep right away.

Noticing Seth's slight glare at his magazine, Summer leaned back and let out a very deep sigh. He's still angry.

"Boy, that was a loud sigh, wasn't it?"

Summer jerked her head at Seth sharply.

"Like you have the weight of the world on you. Hm, I wonder what you're so stressed out about," Seth drawled out sarcastically.

"You always have something to say, don't you?" she spat back, sending him her meanest glare. Was it just her, or was this chair unbelievably uncomfortable?

"Just as much as you always having something to complain about," Seth quipped back.

Summer closed her eyes and sighed again.

"Seth, I'm tired as it is. I really don't need your stupid remarks."

"Hit a nerve, have I?"

"Why yes, yes you have. But not as hard as I hit yours the other day," Summer replied, sending him her sweetest smile. She went from exasperated to angry and to bitchy in less than two seconds. Touché.

Seth's eyes hardened at her comment and his gaze went back to his magazine.

After a moment of silence and no reply, Summer rolled her eyes and scoffed loudly.

"Oh, so now you're quiet?"

Seth closed his magazine and tossed it down below his seat. He leaned back into his chair and put both his hands behind his head, very aware of the stare Summer was sending him. He sighed inwardly.

"I," he began, "have nothing more to say to you."

He looked straight ahead, looking as if a man in content silence.

Summer narrowed her eyes and flared her nostrils. She made sure Michael Ann was still sleeping before she leaned over more towards Seth.

"Why can't you just accept my decision?" she asked him in a furious whisper, clenched between her teeth.

With his hands still behind his head, Seth peered at her through the corner of his eye. He saw anger and a hint of desperation in her eyes.

"Because I don't like it," he said. "I think it's stupid and very weak. You can't even back it up with any evidence or logical reasoning. And anyway, who is it helping, huh? Not me, I can tell you that."

Summer pursed her lips and looked away, staring at the seat in front of her, but really not seeing anything. "Listen," she said slowly, "I'm sorry, okay?"

He scoffed and pulled his hands away from his head and began rubbing them against his pants.

"I really am sorry," she continued, "It's just…" she looked back up at him, his fidgeting forgotten. "I'm sorry I can't be with you…" she said, trailing off. "I just nee—"

"Stop it," Seth interrupted. "I'm tired of hearing the same excuses over and over again."

"But—"

"No, Summer! I really don't want to hear it anymore. I'm beginning to think if you really wanted to be with me by now, we'd be together."

"Seth…" Summer began, "It's just that I think we're going a little to—"

"Fast. I know. I've heard it already, okay?" Seth threw back. "And I've heard the 'what about your parents?!' excuse, so don't try that on me. I'm sick of it. If you don't want to be with me, fine. Whatever. Just don't make up lies to make the situation seem better because not only does it piss me off, it makes things worse."

"Excuse me?" Summer shot back, a small sound of disbelief in her voice. "And who do you think you are to assume that I'm making up lies and excuses? Those 'excuses' are legitimate and logical! They make perfect and total sense!"

Seth bitterly laughed and slid down in his seat. After a moment, he turned his head to look at the flustered brunette with a sad expression on his face.

"No, they don't, Summer," he replied, shaking his head, "they really, really don't."

Summer's angry expression lifted a little at Seth's fallen face.

"Y-Yes, they do," she replied weakly, "they…" she trailed off.

Seth looked so heart broken, sulking in his seat like that. Summer almost wanted to give in to everything and do whatever he wanted to make him happy. That sudden thought made her angry.

'He's doing this on purpose,' she thought, 'just to get you to give in. Don't give up now!'

"They're just not good enough for you," Summer firmly stated, her voice returning to its strength. Sudden inspiration pressed her to go on. "And tell me, 'oh great one,' what are these excused that I'm supposedly lying about, huh?" she challenged.

Seth opened his mouth and shot her a 'how stupid can you get?' look.

Ignoring this, she continued, "well?"

Seth looked away and breathed out a little laugh in disbelief.

"Everything!" Seth said, his voice rising higher at her 'stupid' question. "For one, my parents? Really? That's so clichéd and overused. It doesn't even fit in with out situation. What, you think they're going to be mad or something? Summer, they love you!"

"How do you know they still love me even now? After I left you. And especially I took away their grandchild who they don't even know about! See?!"

Seth didn't falter. "They're Sandy and Kirsten! You of all people should know how understanding they are! All we'll have to do it explain everything to them and we have a hallmark moment. Even you know that!"

Summer furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms.

"No, I don't, Seth. I don't know that. Not anymore."

Seth began to protest before Summer cut him off.

"And anyway, even if that were to happen, that's not the only problem!"

"There we go again! Another one of your excuses! 'We're moving to fast,'" he said in a mocking, girly tone.

This made Summer clench her teeth.

"C'mon. We're moving to fast?! Summer, I've known you my whole life. We've been together before. In fact, more than once! How is this any different?" Seth asked. He saw a small sharp movement in the corner of his eye, but thought nothing of it.

Summer leaned up from Seth and averted her eyes elsewhere. Things got real quick. Seth could see her sad expression reflected across the window.

"It's different now, Seth, because," she paused for a second, "we have a daughter."

"I know we have a daughter," he replied quickly, "but I don't see how—"

"—I don't mind you two being together," a voice shot up from between them.

Both Seth and Summer looked down to see a now awaken Michael Ann staring back up at them. Her eyes wide, full of innocence as her head was peaking out of her blanket.

Seth gave her a side-lopped smile, but Summer's reaction was the total opposite.

She groaned. "Not you, too."

Seth shot Summer a hurt and confused look before replying to Michael Ann's comment.

"Thanks Mike. At least there's one person out there who agrees with me."

Summer rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Mike, honey? Can I talk to Seth alone for a second?"

Michael Ann, deciding it was the perfect time to be an annoying daughter, stayed put. "Sure, go right ahead," she replied with a smile.

Summer just stared at her expectantly.

Michael Ann feigned innocence. "OH! You want me to move?" she asked, gesturing towards herself for more effect. "Hmm, well," she looked at her legs, "I don't feel like it. Sorry."

Summer gave Michael Ann a threatening glare, but Michael Ann simple smiled back.

Going to option number two, she sent Seth a pleading look.

Seth just raised his eyebrows and looked away, following whatever Michael Ann was doing.

Summer sighed deeply. "Listen young lady, if you don't—"

"If you need to talk to Seth alone so badly that you have to use that tone, why don't you two just meet up in the bathroom? I'm really comfortable right now. Not to mention tired," she persuaded, letting out a very loud yawn to add to her case.

Seth hid a smile. Smart girl.

Summer tilted her head and grimaced a little.

"Michael Ann, those things are so disgusting. Please don't make me go in there," she whined, "why don't you be a good daughter and go in the bathroom for us?"

Michael Ann smiled slightly, "because, mother dear, what makes you think I'm going to go in something my mother rejects? If you can't even go in there, then I don't see why I should."

Michael Ann gave her a quick smile before leaning over and reaching for the headphones the airline provided. She pulled them on before Summer could get in another word.

Summer just stared at her daughter, but seeing how nothing was happening, she admitted defeat.

"Fine," she breathed out. She looked at Seth who had a small smirk on his face.

Michael Ann pulled off her headphones and smiled in triumph.

Summer narrowed her eyes. "Cohen. Bathroom. Now."

Seth chuckled as he unbuckled his seatbelt and obediently followed Summer orders. Of course, not without making a comment.

"Naughty."

"Seth!" both Michael Ann and Summer yelled in unison.

"Okay, okay. Don't rush me," he replied, a small smile dancing on his lips. He was soon out of site.

Summer turned her head back to Michael Ann.

"Listen, you and I are going to have a little talk about your attitude, got that? I don't appreciate how you're acting towards me."

Michael Ann bit her lip nervously. "Mom, I'm sorry, okay? I just think you two just need to be locked in a little room to fight out your differences… then you two will know what's right, right?"

Summer looked doubtful. She sighed and took a moment to collect herself before slowly standing up. She maneuvered herself across Michael Ann's lap and looked back at her daughter.

"Honey, do you really want us together?" she asked, a hint of disbelief in her voice.

"It's all up to you, mom. I want you to be happy."

Summer offered a smile before turning around and walking the funeral march towards the bathroom.

"and mom," Michael Ann called out, "don't get me involved. It's just you and him."

* * *

**A/N**: SO! How wa—? No! I'm kidding!

* * *

Summer knocked three times in a rhythmical pattern.

When Seth opened the bathroom door slightly and peeked outside, Summer put on a bored face. He immediately grabbed her arm and pulled her through. Have such a small space in the tiny cupboard called a bathroom, Summer naturally fell into Seth from the sudden roughness.

"Ew. Cohen! Gosh!" she screamed out of habit. Her voice came out muffled since her face was smothered into Seth's chest. She pushed herself away and banged her elbow on the door. "Damn it!" she yelled in pain, "I'm going to kill Michael Ann!"

Seth tried to make some room, but failed miserably as his foot accidentally went into the toilet, splashing water onto Summer.

Summer shrieked. "EW! COHEN! You got toilet water on me!" she yelled. There goes that nickname again. Rolling off her tongue oh so easily.

His eyes widened at what he had done. "Oh my god, Summer! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I swear! Here, let me help you clean that up," he offered nervously as he reached for the napkins set aside on the little sink to his right.

All angry disputes were forgotten.

As soon as his fingertips touched the napkins, his foot slid deeper into the water and he toppled over Summer, pushing her further against the wall.

"Cohen!" she yelled, "Get your clumsy ass off of me!"

Seth tried hard to pull his foot out, but it wouldn't budge.

"Shit!" he exclaimed, "I can't! I'm stuck!" he whined.

Summer sighed angrily as she tried to think of a way out.

She was now stuck.

Thank you, Michael Ann.

* * *

Meanwhile, being bored and stuck in one position for quite some time, Michael Ann decided to see how things were going. Seth and Summer have been gone for longer than an argument should have lasted. She got up and quickly found a line of people waiting for the bathroom. Did all these people really need to use the restroom?

It was then when Michael Ann realized what was happening.

"Damn it, Cohen! Stop doing that!" she heard someone yell.

"Oh no…" Michael Ann whispered to herself, shaking her head slightly, "this can't be happening."

A loud 'oof' was heard.

"I'm so sorry, Summer! I didn't mean to — OW! Summer! My toe!" another voice yelled back, only this voice sounded more amused and whiney versus angry.

Michael Ann walked quietly towards the crowd off people and asked some stranger nervously about what was happening.

"Uh, what's going on here?"

The stranger leaned towards her and said through the side of their mouth, "I'm not sure, but from the looks of it, it seems there's a couple in that bathroom trying to hookup. I don't think it's going to well," they answered, sniggering slightly as they did.

Shuffling could be heard, and then a sudden 'What?!'

"What are you doing?!" a voice leaked through the door. "Cohen! That's not how you do it! No! It's all wrong. Stop! You're making a fool of yourself."

"Excuse me for not knowing how to do it correctly! I haven't exactly had enough practiced to know! Don't blame me!" another voice shot back.

The crowd laughed and cheered loudly. Was it just Michael Ann or was the crowd getting bigger?

"How can you not know by now? Every boy should have learned about this around the age of puberty! No, Cohen! Stop it! It doesn't go in there that way!"

"Stop it, Summer! Just let me do it my way!"

Michael Ann let out a loud grown and rubbed her face with her hands. Damn.

* * *

"Excuse me for not knowing how to do it correctly! I haven't exactly had enough practiced to know! Don't blame me!" Seth shouted, trying to push Summer away.

A muffled noise was heard outside.

Summer pushed Seth from the sink and went in for herself.

"Can't believe you flooded the toilet," she muttered under her breath. "Even more unbelievable you don't know how to fix it."

Seth rolled her eyes and replied, "sorry for not knowing how to fix a flooded toilet. I've never flooded one. But the fact that you have… and know... well, it gives me ideas."

Summer turned her head and glared at Seth. "Don't assume anything. The toilet was already broken. I didn't clog it, if that's what you're thinking."

Seth let out a goofy grin. "You know how to fix one of those, too, don't you?" he asked.

Bad mistake.

"How can you not know by now? Every boy should have learned about this around the age of puberty!" Summer screamed at him.

Seth narrowed his eyes at her shot at his manhood and pulled the plunger out of Summer's hands. He began to randomly jerk the thing into the toilet.

Summer steamed at his stupidity and attempted to pull the plunger away from Seth.

He kept swatting her hands away and the two got into a silly cat fight.

"No, Cohen! Stop it!" Summer said loudly, finally pulling the plunger from Seth's hands. "It doesn't go in there that way!"

After a moment or so of Summer doing exactly what Seth was doing, he put his hands back on the plunger.

"Summer, move out of the way and let me do it."

"No. I'm fine," she said, brushing away his hand. "You might make it worse to the point it won't be fixable," she replied.

"Just let me do it my way!" he finally yelled, fed up with her comments.

Summer leaned back up with a satisfied grin. "There. Fixed." she said.

Seth, being a little shocked and feeling slightly like a pansy, pushed Summer out of the way to see if what she said was true. Yup. No more water filling the top.

Summer smirked at Seth's expression.

"Aw, poor Cohen. Feeling a bit like a girl aren't yo—" but never finished as she felt Seth Cohen's lips crash hard into hers. She dropped the object in her hand and instinctively put her arms around Seth.

Completely out of breath and shocked at the same time, all Summer could do was stare back at Seth when he pulled away, her eyes wide.

He was breathing hard.

"Summer," he began to explain, "you taking charge like that was just… really hot. So you can't blame me for kissing you. But I have to say something. I, at this moment, don't care if you want to be with me or not. But… I want you; more now than ever," he said, "so, I'm going ask you this only once…"

Summer held her breath, unprepared of what was going to be asked.

In the most serious tone Seth could muster, Seth asked his most wanted question.

"Will you have sex with me in this tiny airplane bathroom?"

Summer let out a giggle before breathing out "Yes" and pushing her lips against his once again.

* * *

**A/N**: and there you have it. I'm so incredibly sorry you had to wait so long for that. I thank everyone for the reviews. Well, I had it done earlier, like I said. But I didn't like it. So I rewrote it. Didn't like that either. I'm not entirely satisfied with this one, either, but oh well. I hope you enjoyed it (: You were suppose to be in the O.C right now, but I'm thinking of a Ryrissa plot for this story. I assure you, though, it'll fixate mostly on SS (:

OH! And to gilmoregurl55! Sorry I had mistakes. I know my grammar isn't all that good, but I'm trying (: Thank you, though! And to those who stuck by me (: You're the best, best, best!!!


	12. Chapter 12

**"Thank yous" at the bottom of the page :) Also, I was so determined to post the 11th chapter up soon that I didn't think to proof read it or anything. So, I'm sorry for the horrible grammar and spelling. Not to mention the site naturally scrunching my words together. Enjoy?**

**Disclaimer**: and oh my gosh, like, can you believe she, like, asked me that? Like, not even possible that, like, Adam Brody and Adrien Brody are related. Like, oh my gosh. She's so, like, stupid.

"_Yes." Summer breathed before pushing her lips against his once again._

"Summer," Seth mumbled between Summer's lips.

"Hmm?" she replied, pulling back from him just enough to remove his tie.

"I can't," Summer kissed him again "I can't find the clasp." he finally let out, sounding a little embarrassed.

Summer giggled and kissed him again before saying, "I changed to front snap bras." She pulled away and watched his reaction as she unclipped it.

Seth closed his eyes with a huge smile, thanking God and opened them again, taking it all in. "Hell yeah!" he yelled before squishing himself against Summer and kissing her with all his excitement.

* * *

"Hell yeah!" A voice yelled from behind the door.

The crowd cheered again.

"I think he's getting it right, finally." someone muttered to another person. That person nodded his head in agreement. "Took him long enough." he whispered back.

Michael Ann just stared at these two strangers discussing "what ifs" that were happening behind the closed door. She turned to look at everyone else around her, seeing these people talk about what was happening and being all cheery about it, it was disgusting. She hated herself for putting her parents in that situation.

A squeal was heard. "Cohen!" a voice laughed, "that tickles!"

Michael Ann turned her head back to the door, horrified. "Oh my god, They're not actually having sex, are they?" she whispered. Someone caught it.

"You better believe it, kid. What're you doing here anyway? You're too young." someone said from behind.

Without looking, Michael Ann retorted, "And you're perverted."

She began looking wildly for flight attendants, or someone with a lot of authority. 'Why isn't anyone stopping this?' she asked herself. 'Better yet, why couldn't they do this somewhere a little more private!' She ducked under flailing arms and dodged high-fives until she saw three women in the airline uniforms. 'Finally! Someone who's in charge!' she thought happily. Only to have her happiness and relief taken away by what she saw. They were rooting for the couple, too. 'You've got to be kidding me' she thought 'THE FLIGHT ATTENDANTS TOO? IS THERE NO PURITY IN THIS WORLD?' she looked around her surrounding and found the crowd was getting larger, especially since the noise from the bathroom was getting heavier.

Defeated, Michael Ann passed multitudes of people and stalked back to her seat. She fumed silently as she waited for her "adult" parents to return. After a minute, she noticed another angry looking girl sitting in the next row. She looked about the same age as Michael Ann. Curious, Michael Ann moved up a seat and faced the girl.

"Are you okay?" she asked friendly, but not sure of what to do.

The girl turned her head towards Michael Ann. "Huh? Oh, um, yeah, I'm fine. Thanks" the girl said, her face changing drastically to a bright red, feeling a little foolish for being so openly angry.

Michael Ann thought for a moment, "Okay, you just didn't seem happy." she said "Where are your parents?"

The girl raised an eyebrow and pointed towards the crowd. "They wouldn't let me come and see what all the excitement was about."

Michael Ann laughed a little at the situation. "Trust me, you don't want to know."

The girl smiled slightly. "But I do, and now I'm angry at my parents." she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Parents, huh?" she asked, her smile growing bigger.

Michael Ann returned it. "Tell me about it."

The girl had no idea how right she was.

* * *

Seth smiled into the kiss when he felt Summer whimper. "Hey Sum," he began in a whisper, a smile still playing on his lips "you okay?"

Summer closed one eye and laughed a little. "I'm fine," she whispered back.

Seth, still grinning, kissed her again. Her head touched the cold, smooth surface of the mirror. "Okay, good. I thought maybe I had, I don't know, made you," his voice hit an octave lower, "shudder."

Summer's eyes fluttered and she hit Seth's chest playfully. "Stop it, Seth. I think we've done enough." she whispered.

"That was fun." Seth replied softly. "We should do it again sometime."

Summer pretended to think. "Hmm, we should, shouldn't we?"

Seth nodded his head enthusiastically, his hands were trailing circles against Summer's stomach. "If you say no I'd cry." he replied, showing her his puppy eyes.

Summer flashed him a brilliant smile and bent her head down to Seth's neck. "I don't doubt it." she murmured, kissing his skin softly, "you've always been a crybaby."

"Hey! I resent that." Seth replied, pretending to sound hurt but enjoying Summer's lips on him none the less. As she pulled away, Seth gently lifted Summer's chin up and stared into her beautiful brown eyes that held a sparkle he loved to see. There was no more sadness, no more worry. Just bliss. Genuine bliss, and Seth loved the dazzling expression she held, just for him.

Summer bit her bottom lip and just stared at Seth, unsure of what to do.

"Hey," he said softly, his hands were now shifting from top to bottom on Summer's waist. "do you want to be with me?" he asked.

"I-" Summer began but was cut off by Seth.

"It's not an ultimatum, I mean, I can wait. I will wait. If that's what you want." he said quickly before she answered.

Summer smiled and planted a sweet kiss on Seth's lips. "I want to be with you," she let out "I'm ready, to be with you, I mean. You don't have to wait. Not anymore."

Seth just stared at her, as if he couldn't believe what was happening. He didn't even blink.

After a while, Summer began shuffling, or tried shuffling, suddenly becoming unsure and feeling a little vulnerable. "Seth?" she finally asked.

Seth snapped out of his daze and looked at Summer. He grinned goofily and kissed Summer so hard she swore she was going to break. "I'm sorry," he breathed out after the kiss "I was trying to let it all in, make sure it was really happening and all. Again, I'm sorry."

Seth's contagious smile hit Summer, and she too had a big goofy grin on her face. "Thank God," she said "you had me worried there for a second."

"So, we're really together?" Seth asked, just to make sure.

"Yes. We really are." She replied, feeling really good about her decision.

Seth sighed in relief and kissed Summer again. "Okay," he said "I think it's time we leave this joint."

Summer nodded, but couldn't help but feel a little disappointment. A lot happened in this little bathroom. "Yeah. We should," she said "Michael Ann may be worried." and when she said it, it hit her and Seth like a hurricane.

"Michael Ann!" they both yelled in unison.

Seth quickly bent down to grab the fallen clothes that had touched the ground earlier. Being in such a tiny space, his head accidentally collided with Summer's cheekbone, causing her to shriek in pain.

Seth's eyes widened and he immediately began rubbing Summer's 'boo boo'. "You okay?" he asked worriedly. "Oh God, I'm sorry, Sum, that wasn't suppose to happen." He looked so heartbroken.

"I'm fine." She assured him. "I just yelled at the shock of it happening suddenly."

Seth sigh in relief. "Okay, good. I'm sorry." he said again and attempted putting on his shirt. His arm hit the mirror with a cracking noise and he winced in pain.

Summer, just standing there, giggled in response.

Seth shot her an uneasy smile and began buttoning up.

This reminded Summer of their first time, years and years ago. "Limbs everywhere." she whispered.

"What was that?" Seth said, his tie already being pulled.

Summer shook her head and began getting dress. It was easier for her, all she had to do was put her hands up and swiftly pull her skirt down. Unlike Seth, who was having trouble putting his pants on.

"Damn airplane rooms." Seth muttered under his breath. He pulled one leg through the pants and hit the toiled edge, causing him to stumbled and hit the cold wall. "Yowza!" he yelped at the sudden lack of temperature. "That's cold!" he whined.

Summer, fully dressed and ready to go stifled a laugh.

Seth shot her a warning look. "Don't laugh." he said seriously. "It's not fair."

Summer nodded her head, her hand still covering her mouth. "Promise." she replied. She turned around to the mirror and saw a lot fog. 'Jeez, a lot of…. Working out going on here.' she thought to herself. She began wiping away the precipitation with one of those napkins that were set aside. As she was checking her reflection, she heard a frustrated groan from behind. She turned around to see what was the problem. Nothing seemed wrong. "What is it?" she asked him.

Seth closed both eyes and leaned back towards the door, he looked defeated.

"Cohen?" Summer asked, suddenly worried.

Seth smiled and took in the cold air that was surfacing from the wall. It felt good. "I love you, Summer." he said quietly before opening his eyes. He stared at her questioning face and ruffled his hair.

"I love you, too, Seth." Summer replied uncertainly. "But, what's wrong?"

Seth smiled sheepishly and stood up forward. "Nothing important, just…" his voice got quiet, "after struggling to get both legs into my pants, I guess from wanting to hurry, I find I accidentally put them on inside-out."

Summer just stared at him before letting out a small snigger. This little snigger led to a small giggle. And this giggle led to Summer bursting out laughing. She had to hold on to Seth because her body was shaking so hard.

Seth shot her a look of mock hurt, but he held on to her dearly so.

"Cohen," Summer breathed after the laughter died away, "I really, really love you." She said, amusement still in her voice. "You're so silly."

"I love you, too, Sum." Seth replied seriously. "But you laughing at me is hurting my pride, baby."

"Ew. Cohen. Don't say 'baby.'" Summer replied, reaching for the door.

"Fine." Seth replied, grabbing her hand and pointing towards his inside-out pants.

* * *

Michael Ann, tired of all the waiting, decided to take matters into her own hands. She was going to march up to that cursed bathroom and pound on the door like there was no tomorrow. Demanding they come out right this instant. She was on a mission, after all.

Unbuckling her seatbelt and taking a deep breath, Michael Ann rose from her seat and marched towards the crowd. She heard delightful laughter surfacing from the door. She stopped. Were her parents happy?

Just as she was going to go back to her seat, the door burst opened and out came Summer and Seth in all their glory.

The crowd, being polite and whatnot, made room for the couple to pass through. The bathroom being located in a small section of the plane didn't exactly make the entrance a red-carpet moment, but it sure looked that way.

Seth and Summer appeared confused and extremely embarrassed. Maybe even a little apologetic.

Random people stepped up and congratulated Seth and the girls were telling Summer how lucky she was.

Summer looked at Seth and they both exchanged looks. What was going on?

As Seth passed more and more people, most of them women, Seth began to realize what was happening. The girls sighed crazily as Seth passed them by, swooning at the thought of a man making a girl laugh like that. He flashed them all flirtatious smiles. The men, however, thought differently. They were giving him high fives and "way to goes." Even "You've gotta teach me some of your stuff."

The flight attendants had a sparkle in their eyes and they winked at the couple as they passed by.

Seth reached his destination, meeting up with Summer who had the same "uh oh" face when they both saw a nonchalant looking Michael Ann standing in front of them, her arms carelessly folded against her chest. Seth grabbed Summer's hand out of instinct.

"Hello parents." Michael Ann said, her voice sounding indifferent.

"Mike, honey-" "Kid," Seth and Summer began at the same time but Michael Ann cut them off. "Our seats are this way, in case you forgot." She pointed towards the back.

"We'll be arriving soon, so we better buckle up." She said.

Summer and Seth exchanged looks before following the ever quiet Michael Ann to their seats and sitting down. Michael Ann, figuring her parents would want to now sit by each other, took the window seat.

Finally settled, Seth rubbed both his hands against his pants. A nervous gesture Seth did occasionally. Both the adults couldn't express how guilty they felt for forgetting about her and being all happy without her.

"Hey, Mike-"

"It's okay, Seth." she stressed his name. "Please, if you want this relationship to stay daughter - parents, don't give me any details." She offered him a small smile and looked straight ahead, her chin falling into her palm that was leaning against the window.

Summer whispered something to Seth and he agreed. Both parents looked at Michael Ann and decided to let her be until she felt like talking.

Seth kissed Summer's nose and clasped her hands into his.

"We'll be arriving in the OC in about 10 minutes, everyone please refrain from using the bathroom at this moment. And please, have your seatbelts on." The pilot said into the intercom.

"Hey Cohen," Summer whispered.

"Yeah?" Seth whispered back.

"We just had sex in an airplane."

"Yup." he replied, his grin very noticeable.

"…and people were there. Listening. Rooting for us." Summer said, her voice sounding a little unsure.

"Hey," Seth said softly "don't think of it as a bad thing. Just, think of them rooting. For us. Okay?"

Summer looked Seth in the eye and glanced over at Michael Ann. Michael Ann had her gaze fixated on the chair in front of her. Michael Ann's silence was comforting, in a way. No yelling, and no accusations. Knowing her daughter, Summer knew Michael Ann was okay with it. 'Maybe she's nervous about meeting the family' she thought. She looked back at Seth. "Okay." she replied, her lips turning upward. It seemed she could go on smiling forever.

"Besides," Seth continued, a small smirk forming on his lips, "I finally did one of the things that were on my 'Things to do before I turn thirty' list."

Summer scoffed and looked at Seth, her mouth slightly opened. "Have sex in an airplane bathroom?"

Seth, knowing Summer would assume that, shook his head 'no'.

"Then?" she pressed.

"Having a child with Summer Roberts."

Summer's smile grew into a full-teeth grin. She leaned back into his chest and listened to his heart. Her lullaby.

On the other side of her, Michael Ann was thinking of other things. She was looking straight ahead, fighting the pressure and trying hard to resist getting her ears popped. Not to mention from looking out the window.

After feeling the wheels of the plane hit the pavement, Michael Ann took in a deep breath and turned her head to the right. She looked outside the window to see a sunny beach from afar. It was so beautiful, it seriously took her breath away.

"We've arrived to our destination," the pilot's voice appeared again. "Welcome to the OC."

* * *

**A/N**: Just for all my 'fans':D I'm so glad you loved the other chapter. I just re-read to know what I was going to put in here, and saw all these mistakes! So, to make sure, I re-read this piece and corrected anything that jumped out at me. Because it's my own writing, I might have missed a lot of stuff. I apologize for that. Hope you liked it!

**WritingOnMyWall** - Glad you found it hilarious. It just sort of came out like that. Originally (In my earlier drafts) it was suppose to be deep and dark. You know, angst. HAHA. Mainly because Seth wasn't too happy with Summer's decision. But then I thought, "aw, what the hell, I'll let them be together." So yeah! Still glad you loved it (:

**polar-ice-cubes **- Aw, gosh. I'm sorry, but I think there will be a Ryan and Marissa plot line. It'll only be a smidge, though. I Swear. It's just, there are others who like them together more than they like Seth and Summer. Gotta give the people what they want ;) Oh, and because I think they're adorable together. Glad you like my story, though You can just ignore Ryan and Marissa. Haha.

**Psparkle7189** - Sorry for taking so long in updating :O! As you can see, the crowd did comment on Seth and Summer ;) It's nice knowing you stuck to the story (I say that to everyone).

**OThXtreme02** - Really? You know someone named Michael Ann? Weird. In a cool way, of course. I don't remember where the name came from, but I heard it somewhere and thought it was neat. I think she was a friend of my friend. HAHA. I have no idea.

**Thanks to**: kalexgurl, June.Louise, sweetALABAMAluver, 1naomi, Emily, kursk, Jane07, nefftys, kandyfanz123, ososxcseth, fastforwarddd, summerbreeze14, SR4SC. You guys are great! D I'm so happy and pleased you loved that chapter! I'll try to update faster, it is summer after all. But I won't have all the time ;) Stick with me, now! D

**Next time**: Marissa?

"I'm a grandmother?"

"Being an uncle isn't as life changing as you would think"  
"When you hang out with her and realize she's family, you're going to feel all protective of this girl you just met. You'll be like 'Why am I worrying about her? I just met her' but you can't help it. You do worry. And when that fear hits you, it does. It does change your life. There's someone else you care for. And she didn't even mean for you to. It just happened. And you'll feel it's your responsibility to take care of her when no one else can."


End file.
